Catastrophic Personal Injury and Wrongful Death
We are dedicated to the representation of catastrophically injured individuals and their families. A Catastrophic injury is usually defined as one involving brain damage, neck or spinal cord damage, amputations or severe burns or other permanent injuries. A personal injury case can be based on injuries caused by a wide variety of accidents, such as:
Car Accidents
Medical Malpractice
Misdiagnosis of Breast Cancer
Negligent Security
Dangerous or Defective Products
Victims of personal injury are entitled to financial compensation for their past and future medical and property expenses, economics losses, incidental costs caused by the accident, and pain and suffering. "Wrongful Death" is a legal term that refers to situations when a person dies due to the negligence of another. Wrongful Death cases may arise in a as a result of a variety of incidents, including car accidents and medical malpractice. Our goal is to make sure that the survivor and beneficiaries of the victim are compensated for their loss.
Neck and Spinal Cord Injuries
Neck and Spinal cord injuries change lives. Victims and their families often must deal with permanent disabilities that lead to significant medical and legal needs. The causes of these neck and spinal cord injuries are widely varied and are frequently the result of another's negligence-car crashes, falls, and gunshot wounds are just a few. Lawsuits for most spinal cord injuries are brought under negligence, strict liability, and third party liability laws. (Third parties can contribute to an injury; for example, the company that made a faulty seatbelt or tires.)
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Brain Damages
Brain injury can cause physical, cognitive, social, and vocational changes. Recovery is often a lifelong process of adjustments and accommodations for the injured individual and his or her family. The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke defines a traumatic brain injury as an injury that occurs when a sudden physical assault on the head causes damage to the brain. Traumatic brain injuries can be caused by a variety of accidents, including those involving trains, cars, trucks, and motorcycles. These accidents additionally may cause spinal cord injuries. All brain injuries are not traumatic. Deprivation of oxygen any time during the labor and/or delivery of a baby can cause brain injury and may result in life long disabilities.
Appropriate treatment of a brain injury can involve diagnostic testing, drugs, surgery, and rehabilitation. Rehabilitation, a critical aspect of optimal recovery can be very expensive. For catastrophic injuries, a large team of caregivers may be necessary. It is not uncommon for an injured individual to see a neurologist, neurosurgeon, psychiatrist, neuropsychiatrist, vocational expert, life-care planner, neuro-psychologist, and physical, occupational and speech therapists. In most cases, the lives of the injured individual's family are completely disrupted as they focus their energies on securing proper medical care.
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Amputations
Amputation is defined as the severing of a body part. Every year over 156,000 people in the United States suffer from some kind of amputation, which range from the loss of a fingertip to the loss of an arm or a leg. Loss of a limb frequently results in significant blood loss, shock, infection, and even death. Amputations usually occur in the course of a traumatic injury:
- Motorcycle, semi or automobile crashes
- Factory or warehouse incidents
- Construction site incidents
- Airplane crashes
- Boating collisions
Some amputations, however, are the result of non-traumatic circumstances, such as medical negligence, or the failure to the treat bed sores of a nursing home resident.
An amputation injury often causes a severe grief reaction in the victim and frequently results in depression. Not only is amputation traumatic, it can be extremely expensive. Artificial limbs (prosthesis) can cost as much as $70,000 and must be replaced every 2-5 years.
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Severe Burns
The monetary, mental and physical costs of recovering from a burn injury are staggering. According to the Journal of Burn Care and Rehabilitation, in the early nineties there were over 2.4 million reported burn injuries per year in the United States. Of these incidents, over a million resulted in substantial injury. A burn injury can require months, sometimes years of hospitalization, doctors' visits, and physical therapy and often even require extensive counseling to overcome the mental trauma sustained from suffering a burn injury.
Burn injuries are the second leading cause of accidental death behind automobile crashes. Burns are frequently the direct result of the negligence of another person or company and can result from car crashes, on the job injuries, industrial construction incidents, defective products (product liability), or electrocution and a variety of other tragic circumstances. The source and cause of the fire or accident that caused the burn are crucial determination that forms the bases of a personal injury burn case.
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