Light at the end of the tunnel!

[Lindagerr]

I am sorry to hear of the problems you have had with your knee. I am older and had knee surgery over 40 years ago for cyst on my knees. ( The surgery was quite invasive as the cyst had grown on part of the meniscus) Now I am feeling some severe pains at times that may just be arthritis but it feels worse to me. I was also just given an X-ray. On the other hand I am lucky this has not had a financial and career impact on me. Have you filled out you FAFSA and seen if you can get any grants? This time of inability to work and recuperation should be a perfect time to finish up your degree.

As for the law suit, I have been involved in 2 one was when I was a teenager and was hit crossing the street after getting off a bus. My parents really did that suit and it was partly to recoup their expenses and partly to cover complications I would have down the road. By the time the suit was settled between paying doctors who testified and court and filing cost my parents ended up owing the lawyer $50. after the lawyer took 1/3 of the settlement I ended up with a big $3000 in trust. Of course this was back in the 70's but even then $300 was not a windfall. About 10 years ago I was driving during rush hour traffic and the person 3 cars ahead of me slammed on the breaks for an unknown reason. I stopped as did the 2 cars in front of me. The full size business van behind me did not he hit me hard almost at full speed. He hit so hard he pushed me into the car in front of me and them into the car in front of them. Of course the guy who slammed on the breaks was gone by then. I was having back pain before I left the scene but it was my sons 16th birthday so I refused to go to the hospital. I picked up my sons cake then went to a parent teacher conference where it was so obvious I was in pain the teacher insisted on finding some Ibuprofen for me. I ended up having my husband take me to the ER and getting an MRI. All they could see was some possible soft tissue inflamation. I was given pain pills and physical therapy but it took a long time(many months) for the pain to go away. I lived in NJ where there is no fault insurance so I would not be able to sue unless I had extensive medical bills or the culprit was a business. As it turned out I never did talk to the person who hit me he stayed in his van. All of the other drivers and passengers got out and checked on each other. One person even told the police he had checked and I had come to a complete stop before the accident. So i decided to sue because of my pain and suffering and the medical bills that were not paid because of deductibles and co-pays. The lawyers I used were well know for their work in personal injury lawsuits. They felt it was a worth while case and proceeded. They originally thought the company would offer a settlement. It turned out the Company was just a Mom & Pop repair company and it was their young son driving the van. I never got to meet him because he was away at school so could not be deposition-ed in person. The company fought me tooth and nail refusing to even make an offer for settlement or listen to our offers. They waited until the day of the court case and then offered what I had requested months earlier. Since it was the day of court and all of the doctors were already there I had to pay them even though they never had to testify. By the time Dr.'s got ~$350 each and the court fees were paid and the lawyers got their 33% I ended up with about $7000. Which just about paid for my Dr. Bills and the time lost from work.

So unless you have a really good case and can find another 2 Dr.'s who say the 1st Dr. was libel you will have a long aggravating process ahead of you with little return on investment.