Accident
“If you are resuscitating someone in the ambulance, you are standing loose in the back of the car. You have to ventilate, massage, and administer medication, so it is not convenient if you are stuck. So when we hit that other car, I was flung through the cab. Because I was busy, the blow came so unexpectedly to me that at first, I had no idea what had happened. When I ‘came to’ I noticed that I could no longer move my arm and actually thought I had had a stroke. It was only when I looked around and saw the damage to the vehicles that I understood what had happened.”
After the accident, Jan was picked up by his colleagues and taken to hospital. There the damage was great. He had broken 9 ribs, some of them in multiple places. He also suffered a collapsed lung, a lung contusion, nerve damage to his right arm, and a broken scapula. After an operation in which the doctors applied 24 screws and 4 plates to his ribs, Jan was able to start his rehabilitation. Due to pain, the doctors tried to remove the screws and plates two years after the accident. This did not work out well, so Jan ended up in intensive care again. And at the beginning of 2021, another operation on the shoulder blade followed, again to remedy pain complaints.
Jan: “Unfortunately, my arm didn’t turn out quite right. There are also 7 broken screws in my ribs that they can’t get out. And the shoulder blade and my ribs have not grown together properly, leaving me with chronic pain. But there’s nothing they can do about that. Breaking everything again and putting it right again is too risky.”
On the ambulance
More than a year after the accident, Jan went back to work, but it soon became apparent that full-time work was no longer an option. Jan: “During the holidays I was always completely demolished and I almost only lay in bed or on the couch.” Now Jan works for 50%, part of which is in the ambulance and part in the office. “That’s okay if it’s not too busy,” Jan continues. “If we fly back and forth with the ambulance and I have to carry a lot, I need a day or 2 to recover.” He also tried to pick up his hobbies again. “I used to ride a lot of motorcycles, but that has now become much more difficult with that arm. After about 15 minutes there is no feeling anymore and I don’t know whether to accelerate or brake. Then I have to take a break.”
All in all, the accident had a significant impact on Jan’s daily life. The police officer who investigated the accident, therefore, advised Jan to hire a personal injury lawyer.
