What to Do if You Are in a Car Accident While Pregnant

Key Takeaways:

• Car accidents are stressful. They can be far worse and dangerous for expecting mothers.
• A pregnant car accident victim must seek medical attention for themselves and their fetus. Even low-impact car crashes can cause serious injuries.
• Safety features like seat belts and airbags can cause injuries to pregnant women, although they are typically not as severe as the injuries that would occur without those features.
• Car accident injuries to pregnant women and fetuses can include a wide range of pregnancy complications. In some cases, they may result in congenital disabilities, miscarriages, or stillbirths.
• Insurance companies will pay damages for wrongful death if a car accident causes a miscarriage, although the amount may depend on the viability of the fetus.

Getting into a car accident can be one of the most stressful events in your life, but if you go through the ordeal while pregnant, the experience can be monumentally worse. You’ll need to get medical treatment urgently, not just for your own sake but for the sake of your unborn child. Unfortunately, 3,000 to 5,000 fetuses are lost every year due to injuries from car accidents, according to the Birth Injury Help Center.

If you were involved in an auto accident in Michigan as an expectant mother and subsequently lost your child, you may be entitled to compensation for medical costs, lost wages, and even wrongful death. Our Michigan personal injury lawyers at Matz Injury Law can help if a car accident harms you or your child. Call our Southfield law firm at 1-866-22Not33 or use our online contact form for a free consultation.

What Are the Dangers of Being In a Car Accident While Pregnant?

Car crashes are dangerous enough under normal circumstances, but they’re especially troublesome if you’re pregnant. Even minor car accidents that you would otherwise be able to walk away from just fine can cause complications for a growing fetus. Seat belts and airbags, which generally keep us safe, can cause fetal injuries.

Low-impact accidents are commonly referred to as fender benders, and they most often don’t result in any problems for the unborn baby. In about 5% of cases, though, the pregnant person can suffer what’s known as placental abruption. The greater the impact of the accident, the greater the risk of injury to the child.

Despite their protective functionality, seat belts and airbags can be particularly dangerous to pregnant people. A deploying airbag can hit a person’s abdomen with significant force. While that force is less than what you’d experience hitting the steering wheel or dash, that impact can harm a fetus. Seat belts offer a similar risk to the abdomen area, but those injuries pale compared to most injuries that occur without a seat belt.

What to Do in a Car Accident While Pregnant

If you’re involved in a Michigan car accident while pregnant, there are a few steps you should follow. Prioritize your health and your child’s health over everything else.

1. Call the Police

You should get emergency services to your position as soon as possible, which means calling the police immediately. You should prioritize your medical attention over anything else.

2. Inform Emergency Care of Your Pregnancy

Once EMTs arrive, you’ll want to inform them of your pregnancy immediately. They need to be able to take the proper precautions when treating you and your child.

3. Seek Medical Care

After emergency services have been informed, your priority should be getting all the medical treatment you need. Try not to worry about medical bills or other troublesome distractions. Instead, focus on getting the care necessary after the accident.

4. Contact Your Insurance Company

With your medical needs taken care of, it’s time to contact your insurance company. This is just to alert your insurance that the accident occurred. Do not agree to any kind of settlement or compensation from your auto insurance company.

5. Hire an Attorney

Finally, you should hire a personal injury attorney for your case. Remember that insurance companies profit by denying as much coverage as possible, so you’ll want a car accident lawyer to help you through the compensation process.

_{Focus on your recovery. We’ll handle all the paperwork and calls.}

6 Common Injuries From Car Accidents While Pregnant

Getting into a car accident while pregnant can lead to numerous types of injuries to the child. Your current week of pregnancy can impact the severity and risk of these injuries.

• Placental abruption: A placental abruption occurs when the placenta is disconnected from the wall of the uterus before it’s time to give birth. It may be complete or partial, and it’s more likely to occur in the later stages of pregnancy. When this happens, blood and oxygen to the baby can be restricted.
• Uterine rupture: While uterine ruptures are rare, it’s important to be aware of them. This is when the wall of the uterus is torn. It is incredibly dangerous, with a high fetal mortality rate. In these cases, the baby must be delivered, or it will be deprived of oxygen.
• Maternal shock: Maternal shock is a kind of hypovolemic shock in which the body restricts blood flow to the most essential organs as a trauma response. In cases of pregnancy, the body does not consider the fetus to be essential, so it may lose blood flow. Maternal shock is dangerous for your health and the health of the fetus.
• Congenital abnormalities: Due to the wide variety of potential injuries a pregnant person can suffer during an accident, your fetus could experience congenital anomalies, which are also known as birth defects. They could be benign, or they could be serious injuries.
• Direct fetal trauma: Direct fetal trauma is when the fetus itself suffers physical injury. This doesn’t happen very often, with less than 10% of all accidents involving pregnant women having direct fetal trauma.
• Premature birth: Preterm labor is an uncommon but possible outcome of a car accident while pregnant. This will have the same potential medical issues as any other kind of premature birth.

Does Michigan Personal Injury Protection Cover Miscarriages?

Yes, insurance companies often will pay compensation for miscarriages that occur after motor vehicle crashes. A viable fetus may be the subject of a wrongful death claim. The further along the mother is in her pregnancy, the more likely the insurance company will be to settle a claim, especially if they were in the third trimester.

We successfully represented a pregnant mother who survived an auto accident but miscarried soon afterward. She received $100,000 (the policy limit) for her loss. Insurance companies often prefer to settle these types of claims rather than risk going to court.

What Damages Can I Recover After a Car Accident While Pregnant?

If you have been in a motor vehicle accident while pregnant, you may be entitled to compensation for several different types of damages, even in no-fault accidents. Here are the most common.

• Medical expenses: The most obvious damages are medical expenses. These include treatment for both you and your child. These damages are typically easy to quantify simply by adding up the cost of medical treatments. Note that they can also include future treatments related to the accident.
• Lost wages: Getting into an accident can leave you injured to the point where you cannot work anymore, leading to missed wage opportunities. Recovering damages for lost wages is meant to offset that.
• Replacement services: Recovering from an injury typically requires you to stay off your feet, so you’ll need someone else to take care of daily tasks like housekeeping and general maintenance.
• Pain and suffering: Pain and suffering damages are difficult to quantify, but they generally involve the trauma and mental anguish you suffer in the aftermath of an accident.

Can I Sue for Wrongful Death if I Miscarry After a Car Accident?

Yes, you can sue for wrongful death if you suffer a fetal death after a car accident. Not only can you file a wrongful death lawsuit against the at-fault driver, but they could also be faced with a felony charge. The mother of the lost child typically brings these lawsuits, but any family member can do so.

Related Resources

Please refer to the following resources for additional information on the rights and legal options of pregnant car accident victims:

• What is Survivor’s Guilt and How to Cope with an Accident Fatality
• 2024 Guide to Michigan Car Accident Lawsuits

Why Clients Choose Matz Injury Law

Matz Injury Law has decades of experience handling Michigan personal injury cases. We have driven hundreds of thousands of miles across Michigan, helping families like yours recover after traumatic car accidents. When you work with Matz Injury Law, you always work with a partner. Additionally, Matz Injury Law believes in a lower attorney contingency fee. Most law firms charge the legal maximum of 33 1/3% of your settlement. We only charge 22%, which means you keep more money with Matz.

Recent successes include the following:

• A $3.45 million settlement in a Genesee County truck accident case that involved three fatalities and severe injuries to a four-year-old boy
  • The client kept an additional $390,000 with Matz Injury Law’s “22, not 33” promise.
• A $1.3 million settlement for a Monroe County car crash that seriously injured a mother and caused her eight-year-old daughter to suffer a brain injury that aggravated an existing disability
  • The client kept an additional $147,200 with Matz Injury Law’s “22, not 33” promise.

Learn more about our “22, not 33” promise.

Client Testimonials

“We recently had a horrible tragedy in our family and had to seek legal help. […] From the moment we reached out to Steve he demonstrated professionalism, expertise, and genuine care of our legal needs. […] There was never a problem reaching Steve, every email and phone call was answered directly by Steve. His depth of knowledge and attention to detail were evident in his strategic approach to our case, resulting in a favorable outcome that exceeded our expectations. Steve Matz not only represented my interests with skill and dedication but also showed compassion and empathy, making a stressful situation much more manageable. We are immensely grateful for Steve Matz’s guidance and support. We would not hesitate to seek their assistance again in the future. He is not your billboard attorney where you are just another number. We highly recommend Matz Injury Law.” – Robert B.

“Steve Matz deserves more than 5 stars! He went above and beyond to help me with my automobile accident/lawsuit and stayed in constant contact with me. He cared about me as a person and how I was feeling or doing. I will recommend him to anybody who ever asks me, he has been amazing!!!! Mr. Matz, I can never thank you enough for what you have done for us. Thank you for always being authentically and truly you. You are definitely a fighter for what’s right.” — Holly L.

Fighting for Michigan Families

At Matz Injury Law, we fight against the negligence of drivers who put you and your child at risk and insurance companies that try to offer you less than you deserve. Your job is to focus on recovery. We’ll take care of the rest. Contact a Michigan accident attorney today for a free consultation by filling out our online contact form or calling 1-866-22Not33.