Catastrophic Injuries
A catastrophic injury is an injury that causes permanent disability. These injuries typically involve the brain, spine, skull, amputations, paralysis or spinal cord, but they can also involve important extremities or bodily functions. Caused by car accidents, defective products, unsafe workplace conditions or egregious negligence, many people who suffer a catastrophic injury are unable to fully recover and return to their normal course of life. Medical costs, lost wages and physical and psychological suffering are often significantly higher for catastrophic injury victims than other accident victims. It’s estimated that 2.5 million people suffer from a catastrophic injury per year, but nearly 80 percent of these accidents are entirely preventable. If you’ve suffered from a catastrophic injury, a catastrophic accident lawyer can counsel you through the complicated process of recovering damages for your physical, emotional and financial losses.
Because catastrophic injuries tend to be more severe than typical accident injuries, victims often require lifelong care and incur substantial costs. These injuries alter a victim’s quality of life and generally require significant support from their family and loved ones. Emergency and future medical expenses, ongoing rehabilitation, medical care and medications, lost wages, counseling and diminished earning capacity are factors that must be accounted for when determining a victim’s total damages.
Unfortunately, in most instances, the responsible party’s liability insurance rarely covers all of the victims’ incurred losses. Furthermore, catastrophic injury claims are often quite costly to pursue, requiring victims to seek out a catastrophic accident lawyer with significant financial resources and expertise.
In order to recover damages for a catastrophic injury, your catastrophic accident lawyer must prove that the accident that caused the injury was the result of negligence or misconduct on the part of an individual, company or organization. An improperly executed claim for damages could result in a substantially reduced damages award, enhancing the victim’s financial burden.
Spinal injuries result from sustained trauma or sudden blows, and can have long-lasting effects on the victim. Spinal injury victims typically experience a variety of symptoms, including bladder and bowel complications, inability to regulate blood pressure, reduced control of body temperature, chronic pain, respiratory issues and mood swings. Spinal injuries are grave circumstances, and require the counsel of an experienced catastrophic accident lawyer to recover losses after an accident.
Paralysis occurs when a part of your body has lost its muscle function. Typically occurring after a brain or spinal injury, paralysis is caused by your body’s inability to read neurotransmitters that signal movement. It is usually accompanied by sensory loss, and requires a variety of medical treatments for the rest of a victim’s life. Extensive rehabilitation and physical therapy substantially increases a victim’s medical expenses, requires time-consuming care and generally adds to the overwhelming burden a paralysis victim faces. Additionally, depression and feelings of helplessness can cause sustained emotional trauma, affecting both the victim and their loved ones.
Unsuitable workplace conditions, head injuries, roadside accidents, assault and devastating falls can each cause paralysis in a patient. Understanding who may be held liable in these instances will be key to recover for your losses, and your catastrophic accident lawyer will help you make sense of your claim.
The loss of a limb can be an extremely complicated physical and psychological adjustment for affected victims. Despite advances with state-of-the-art prosthetics, it’s likely that amputation victims will struggle to maintain their quality of life. Costly medical expenses, including surgery, rehabilitation and medications, add to the burden placed on a victim. Victims will spend the rest of their lifetime fitting and re-fitting costly prosthetics, adjusting to their use with occupational and physical therapy.
Amputations can result from a catastrophic vehicle, motorcycle or boating accident, but they can also be caused by medical malpractice, or occur at the workplace or on public transit. Amputation injury victims should work with an attorney who can guide them through the process of recovering damages. In March 2021, P. Ryan Banafshe successfully represented a motorcyclist who lost a leg in a collision with a truck. The victim and his family were awarded nearly 24 million dollars in damages.
Burn injuries typically require extensive medical treatment, with long hospital stays, ongoing rehabilitation and surgeries needed to mitigate the injury. Burn injuries usually run a higher risk of infection because the damaged skin tissues cannot shield against germs and bacteria. The ongoing costs associated with burn injuries can be exorbitant, placing an undue burden on the victim and their loved ones. As such, burn victims will want to work with a dependable and knowledgeable accident attorney to determine fault in the accident and initiate a legal claim.
Brain injuries are traumatic, frustrating and costly injuries that often lead to loss of memory, confusion, dizziness, loss of vision, loss of consciousness, inability to coordinate, slurred speech, inability to comprehend simple or complex ideas and can even affect your personality. Because treatment is often specialized, extensive and conducted long-term, brain injuries require a neurologist’s or brain specialist’s expertise. Rehabilitation, constant follow-up appointments and medications tend to result in overwhelming costs for brain injury victims. Additionally, brain injury victims may never fully recover their faculties, and lost wages play a significant role in the victim’s quality of life.
Because human beings rely heavily on their vision to perform everyday tasks, an accident that impairs or eliminates your eyesight can have devastating effects on your quality of life. Eye injuries typically occur after trauma to a victim’s face or brain. Car accidents, airbag malfunctions, physical assault, unsafe working conditions, fires and explosions are just some of the incidents that can cause eye injury. If the victim has suffered a traumatic brain injury, eyesight is further complicated, and may arise weeks or months after the initial accident.
Eye injuries are further complicated because medical science cannot fully reconstruct or duplicate the human eye. Eye injury victims who experience blindness or severe loss of eyesight will never recover their vision, and will need to rely on occupational therapy to adjust to their new lifestyle. As such, medical treatment becomes costly and time-consuming, requiring ongoing rehabilitation and generally prohibiting the victim from returning to work.
Nerve injuries can cause intense physical pain and suffering, complicating a variety of bodily functions and causing substantial psychological anguish on the victim. Because nerve damage is often difficult to detect, a specialist’s attention is required, which adds to a victim’s already burdensome medical costs. Nerve injuries can be caused by a variety of accidents: Burn accidents, car accidents, falls or assaults can each cause nerve injuries. Medical doctors, too, can find themselves liable for a nerve injury if it is found they acted negligently.
Living with chronic nerve pain can impact a victim’s quality of life. Time taken off of work for medical appointments or unusually painful days place an undue financial burden on the victim. The added cost of pain medication can also substantially increase a victim’s total losses. Anxiety, depression and other psychological issues may additionally arise.
While most fractures and broken bones tend to heal quickly, some injuries require extensive medical care and treatment. Fractured and broken bone injuries can sometimes lead to infection, nerve damage or soft tissue impairment. Fractures and broken bone injuries can substantially impact a victim’s normal course of life, resulting in lost wages or time away from work. The ongoing rehabilitation and physical therapy required to heal can additionally place an undue financial burden on the victim. Additionally, an improperly healed fracture or broken bone can significantly increase a victim’s pain and suffering and have lasting consequences. A catastrophic accident lawyer can answer any questions you may have about your specific situation and potential damages.
Over 28 million people in the United States have experienced a loss of hearing, but sudden hearing loss is typically caused by a major accident. Hearing loss is a catastrophic injury impacting a victim’s ability to conduct their life. The injury alters their physical and psychological well-being, impacting their social relationships while curtailing their career growth. While there are a variety of medical procedures and devices that can help restore hearing loss, these treatments are often costly and require ongoing care.
Typically caused by a car accident, negligent concert providers, construction companies and more, sudden hearing loss can result in costly medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering claims.
Working with a catastrophic accident attorney who has a proven track record of recovering damages for catastrophic injury victims will ensure that you receive the compensation you deserve. Dealing with a catastrophic injury is burdensome enough. Be sure you engage experienced counsel to guide you through your financial and emotional recovery. Contact us today for a free consultation with an experienced catastrophic accident lawyer.
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