Broken Wrist

Broken wrists can happen from a variety of sources. They medically are referred to as a fractured wrist. Whether it be from sports, or a personal injury accident, this injury is quite common. Depending on the severity, this can be a serious injury. Also, if it is the dominant wrist that is broken, that can make the injury very debilitating. As a Boston broken wrist injury lawyer, I have handled many of these cases over the years. If the accident that produced the broken wrist was due to negligence, then a personal injury claim and potential settlement may be owed to the victim. Keep in mind that not ever broken wrist arising from an accident leads to a potential case. Before a case can be established, certain elements must be met.

The medical aspect of a broken wrist are complex, and here is some information on the topic:

Here are the medical names for wrist fractures:

• Colles’ fracture
• Smith’s fracture
• Scaphoid fracture
• Barton’s fracture
• Chauffeur’s fracture
• Greenstick fracture
• Fracture of the ulnar styloid

Broken wrists can occur from some of the following types of personal injury accidents:

• Car accidents
• Workers’ compensation accidents
• Bicycle accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Truck accident cases
• Nursing home abuse cases
• Pedestrian accidents
• Slip and fall accidents
• Snow and ice accidents
• Construction accidents
• Dog bites and attacks
• MBTA accident cases
• Daycare center accidents cases
• Elevator and escalator accident cases

The wrist is made up of eight bones that connect to the two forearm bones (ulnar and radius). The most common wrist fracture is to the radius. Doctors call this a distal radius fracture.

Fractures to the wrist can be either displaced or non-displaced. If the broken bone is not displaced, that means the bone has not moved out of place. For displaced breaks, that means the bone has been moved out of place due to the break.

Wrist fractures can be comminuted, meaning the bone is shattered. Or, they can be open fractures which means the bone goes through the skin.

Depending on the extent of the break, it may be necessary for a doctor to only perform closed reduction, which means manually placing the bone into place without the need for surgery. For more serious breaks, surgery, oftentimes referred to as ORIF (open reduction, internal fixation) is necessary. This is when the doctor opens up the skin and fixes the broken wrist with hardware to repair the fracture.

For personal injury cases, if there is ORIF performed to the bone, that generally results in high settlement numbers. For closed reduction wrist fracture cases, the settlement numbers tend to be lower, but still can be substantial.

If you were the victim of negligence, and suffered a broken wrist, I encourage you to contact us here at the Earley Law Group Injury Lawyers for your free case review and consultation. We only get paid if your case settles. Call us today at 617-444-7777 and tell us about your accident claim. Be sure to request one of our free books if you have not done so already!