Implantable Pain Relief Device Offers Hope For Car Accident Survivors

Even if you are a relentlessly optimistic person who tends to let bygones be bygones, chronic pain is a serious obstacle to your quality of life after a car accident.  Managing pain can feel like a full-time job.  Almost all of the available treatments only work for a short time, or else have serious side effects.  Physical therapy and chiropractic sessions often make you feel worse before they make you feel better; the responsibility is on you to heal.  Surgery, likewise, has a considerable recovery time during which you are no better off than you were before the procedure.  Even if opioid painkillers are the most effective way to manage your pain, they can make it difficult to function in daily life, that is, if your doctor is even willing to prescribe them to you.  Medical research is always developing new treatments and finding ways to make them reliable and affordable. A Columbia car accident lawyer can help you recover damages for your accident-related medical expenses, including the costs of managing chronic pain.

How the Device Works

Researchers at Northwestern University in Illinois have published the results of a study showing that an implantable device is effective at managing pain.  The device wraps around an affected nerve like a cuff, and cool liquid is propelled through it by a pump, thereby relieving pain.  The device is meant to last several months, after which it disintegrates (it is made of materials that are not harmful when broken down in the body).  Another device can be implanted later, if necessary.

The device is not yet available clinically.  All of the research conducted on it so far has been on animals, but these studies have shown that the device is effective at relieving chronic pain.  The next step is to test the device in clinical trials involving human patients.

What the New Technology Could Mean for Your Car Accident Case

When clinical trials begin on the implantable nerve cooling device or any new type of medical treatment, your doctor can help you enroll.  If your current pain management protocol is not enabling you to function normally, you may be interested in new treatments.  Meanwhile, you still have medical expenses related to your chronic pain.  If you file a personal injury lawsuit to get the at-fault driver or the vehicle owner to cover these expenses, you will need to show that these treatments are appropriate for your injuries.  Your lawyer may ask medical expert witnesses to testify.  If these experts cite published research, the Daubert standard requires them only to cite clinical studies that used human patients.  This means that the recently published Northwestern University study about the nerve-cooling implant will not be admissible in your case, but future clinical studies that follow up on it will be.

Let Us Help You Today

The personal injury lawyers at the Stanley Law Group can help you if you are struggling with medical bills related to the management of chronic pain after a car accident.  Contact The Stanley Law Group in Columbia, South Carolina or call (803)799-4700 for a free initial consultation.

Source:

theguardian.com/science/2022/jun/30/nerve-cooling-implant-could-offer-pain-relief-alternative-to-opioids-say-researchers