Can a Broken Sternum Kill You? What to Know After a Car Accident

Key Takeaways

• A broken sternum alone is rarely fatal, but injuries to the heart, lungs, or aorta can be.
• Motor vehicle collisions cause about 68% of sternal fractures, far more than any other cause.
• Chest pain that worsens with breathing, shortness of breath, or chest bruising needs prompt medical evaluation.
• Most isolated sternal fractures heal in about 10 weeks, though chest pain can last longer.
• Tennessee generally allows one year to file an injury lawsuit, with a narrow two-year exception.

Yes, a broken sternum can kill you, though the fracture itself is rarely what proves fatal. The real danger lies in what the impact does to the heart, lungs, and blood vessels just behind the breastbone. At The Williams Firm, our Nashville car accident lawyers represent people hurt in car and truck crashes across Middle Tennessee, and chest injuries raise one urgent question: can a broken sternum kill you?

In severe cases, a sternal fracture turns deadly when broken bone damages the heart, lungs, or large blood vessels. Many heal with rest and pain management, but unstable breaks carry a real risk of death and often come with other internal injuries. Anyone hurt this way in a crash needs emergency care immediately.

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What Is a Broken Sternum and How Does It Happen in a Car Crash?

The sternum, or breastbone, anchors the ribs and shields the heart. Breaking it takes tremendous force, which a collision delivers. A review of sternal fractures from the National Library of Medicine, the federal government’s medical research library, points to two common crash mechanisms:

• Steering Wheel Impact: The chest strikes the wheel, most often in older vehicles without airbag deployment.
• Shoulder Belt Force: Seat belt laws requiring shoulder restraints have increased sternal fractures, even though belts save lives.

The same review found that motor vehicle collisions cause 68% of sternal fractures, far more than falls or motorcycle crashes, which account for 7.9% each.

Can a Broken Sternum Be Fatal?

A broken sternum can be fatal, though death usually results from injuries that accompany the fracture rather than the bone itself. The same National Library of Medicine review shows how much those other injuries change the picture:

• Isolated Fracture: Only the breastbone broke, with mortality around 0.7%.
• Fracture With Other Injuries: Seen in up to two-thirds of cases, with mortality from 25% to 45%.

So, can a broken sternum kill you? It depends on what else the crash damaged.

Mayo Clinic research on chest wall trauma identifies the related threats doctors watch closely:

• Cardiac Contusion: Bruising of the heart muscle, which doctors screen for with an electrocardiogram.
• Blunt Aortic Injury: Damage to the aorta, the body’s main artery
• Lung Complications: Bruised lung tissue, partial collapse, and pneumonia from shallow, painful breathing.

Because every crash leaves different injuries, our initial consultations are one-on-one meetings with a lawyer who reviews the medical findings alongside the crash facts.

Symptoms You Should Never Ignore

The National Library of Medicine’s clinical overview reports that a standard front-view chest X-ray detects only about half of these breaks. Doctors often need a side-view X-ray or a CT scan to confirm the fracture. Watch for these warning signs:

• Center chest pain that worsens with deep breathing or coughing.
• Shortness of breath.
• Tenderness when pressing on the breastbone.
• Swelling, bruising, or a visible deformity over the chest.

Our attorneys also warn against waiting to see whether pain fades. When treatment starts weeks after a crash, adjusters call it a gap in treatment and argue you were never really hurt.

How Is a Broken Sternum Treated?

Treatment depends on whether the fracture is stable. The National Library of Medicine describes a standard approach:

• Cardiac Monitoring: An electrocardiogram to check for heart muscle damage.
• Pain Control: The mainstay of care for isolated fractures.
• Breathing Exercises: Routines that help prevent lung complications.
• Surgical Fixation: Reserved for significantly displaced or unstable fractures.

Not every patient needs a hospital stay. When doctors find no other concerns, people with an isolated fracture can often go home and follow up with their primary care doctor within 24 hours.

The American College of Surgeons chest wall injury guidelines, released in November 2025, emphasize pain management that does not rely on opioids, along with early movement after surgery. Most isolated sternal fractures heal in about 10 weeks, though chest pain can last up to 12 weeks.

What Compensation Can You Recover in Tennessee?

A broken sternum can mean weeks away from work and months of medical bills. Injured Tennesseans may pursue compensation for:

• Medical Expenses: Emergency care, imaging, surgery, and follow-up treatment.
• Lost Income: Missed wages and reduced earning capacity.
• Pain and Suffering: Physical pain and lost enjoyment of daily life.

Tennessee’s financial responsibility law, TCA § 55-12-102, sets minimum bodily injury coverage at $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident, which may fall short when a chest injury requires surgery.

For a Middle Tennessee woman rear-ended by a dump truck, our Nashville car accident lawyers partnered with a rehabilitation physician on a life-care plan and a vocational economic expert on future lost wages. A client with preexisting health problems also noted that Greg Hazelwood took time to grasp how the crash affected those conditions. 

Deadlines matter as well. As the Tennessee Court of Appeals confirmed in Glover v. Duckhorn, Tennessee Code Annotated § 28-3-104 sets these filing windows:

• One Year: The standard deadline for most personal injury lawsuits.
• Two Years: Only in limited cases involving criminal charges against the at-fault driver.
• City Traffic Tickets: Do not count as criminal charges or extend the deadline.

Injured in a Tennessee Car Crash? Contact The Williams Firm

Chest injuries from a crash deserve medical attention and careful legal guidance. If you are still asking, can a broken sternum kill you, or wondering what your claim is worth, The Williams Firm is here to help. Call (615)-256-8880 today for a free consultation and speak directly with your lawyer.

Jonathan Williams

When an accident or loss turns your life upside down, you need more than a lawyer—you need a relentless advocate who knows Tennessee and fights for you like family. Jonathan Williams, a born-and-raised Nashvillian, is the owner and managing partner of The Williams Firm. He brings more than 18 years of tenacious litigation experience as a Nashville personal injury lawyer to secure justice and maximum compensation for his clients. Jonathan lives in West Nashville with his wife, Megan, and their young son, Carter. They are anxiously expecting the birth of their daughter in

Free case consultation Call Us (615)-256-8880