Did the claimant sustain a head injury in the incident? Would the diagnosed head injury have been prevented if the claimant was using a protective device such as a helmet, a seat belt or an airbag?
Claims adjusters frequently look to biomechanical engineers to answer injury causation and prevention questions such as these in order to assess personal injury claims.
To answer head injury mechanism or causation questions, claims professionals may consult biomechanical engineers. These experts can compare the forces or accelerations experienced by the head in an incident to those required to cause the diagnosed injury. The incident forces/accelerations are calculated though reconstruction of the event and the forces/accelerations required for the injury are typically determined from published experimental data. If the forces/accelerations in the incident are of the magnitude required for the injury, then the injury is likely consistent with the incident; however, if they are not, then the injury likely is not consistent with the incident.
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