Are there future medical costs in a post-traumatic splenectomy case?

Yes! We have recently had several cases involving post-traumatic splenectomy following motor vehicle collisions. One such case involved a man in his 20s who was involved in a high speed motorcycle accident. The client was forced to brake suddenly, causing him to be thrown from his motorcycle and onto his left side. 

The client was transported to the hospital via ambulance and immediately treated as a trauma case. A CT scan of his abdomen revealed he had a Grade 3-4 spleen laceration and was bleeding into his abdomen. Given the seriousness of this condition, he was immediately taken to surgery where he underwent an exploratory laparotomy and splenectomy. 

Luckily, the client was able to be discharged from the hospital several days later and he continued to recover well at home. However, a splenectomy is a very serious surgical procedure and asplenic status requires careful follow-up care with a primary care physician. It is of the utmost importance that a person who has undergone splenectomy comply with an aggressive vaccination schedule. Additionally, they will require prophylactic antibiotic treatments at the first sign of infection. 

These additional visits with a physician, vaccines, and antibiotic treatments all impose future costs on your clients which they ought to be made whole for. In this specific case, we were able to find an additional $50,000 in anticipated future costs related to the splenectomy for the client!