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A Jacksonville Catastrophic Injury Attorney Discusses The Difficulties of Catastrophic Injuries
Accidents happen every day, and while the majority of them are minor and do not require medical attention, some can result in life-altering injuries. These accidents can result in high medical bills, missed wages, incapacity, chronic physical pain, and severe mental and emotional distress. From a practical standpoint, people who have suffered a catastrophic injury cannot be made whole by any money. If you or a loved one have suffered a catastrophic injury, a Jacksonville catastrophic injury lawyer at the Pope Law Firm can help you recover all of the financial compensation you’ll need to help defray your costs and provide for your future needs.
Common Catastrophic Injuries In North Carolina
Some of the more common catastrophic injuries include, among others:
Amputation
When a terrible catastrophe calls for drastic measures, you or a loved one may be forced to undergo an amputation. This type of treatment can make it difficult to live a regular life, and you may need to pay for costly rehabilitation, prosthetics, and other medical services. If someone else’s negligence caused your amputation, you have the right to seek compensation for your pain and suffering, and a Jacksonville catastrophic injury attorney can help.
Some of the most common causes of an accident leading to amputation include, but are not limited to:
- Car accident
- Motorcycle accident
- Construction accident
- Trucking accident
- Medical malpractice
Paralysis
Injury to or disease of the nerves, brain, or spinal cord causes paralysis, which is the loss or impairment of voluntary movement in a body part. Depending on the severity of the paralysis, it can potentially impact all areas of a victim’s life. Common causes of paralysis include:
- Motorcycle accidents
- Falls from height
- Car accidents
- Bicycle accidents
- Truck accidents
- Certain diseases or infections
- Pedestrian accidents
- Crush accidents
- Other construction site accidents
Burns
A severe burn might require extensive medical care and leave you with permanent damage and disability. The severity of burns determines whether the burns can be classified as catastrophic. In addition, the severity of the damage defines the degrees of burns. First-degree burns are the least harmful, and third-degree is the most harmful. Tissue damage caused by burns includes:
- First-degree burns commonly cause red yet unblistered skin with mild to medium degrees of pain.
- Second-degree burns typically include blisters, minor thickening of the skin, and medium to severe degrees of pain.
- Third-degree burns cause widespread thickness with a white, leathery appearance and serious to severe degrees of pain.
Occasionally, fourth-degree burns are also included. These burns include all of the symptoms of a third-degree burn but extend into tendons and bones. In most cases, third- (and fourth)-degree burns are considered catastrophic.
Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBIs) and Catastrophic Head Injuries
A brain injury is one of the most serious kinds of injury that can occur in an accident.
A mild traumatic brain injury, like a concussion, may affect your brain cells, but only temporarily. More serious TBIs can result in torn tissues, bruising, bleeding, and other physical damage to the brain. TBIs can result in long-term complications or death. It’s important to understand that vernacular changes among various respected health care providers often lead to catastrophic head injuries and catastrophic brain injuries to be categorized together. This is a handy way of simplifying categories of traumatic injuries in which catastrophic head injuries can be categorized as the cause of devastating brain injuries rather than a separate category of catastrophic injuries.
Still, to those who do categorize catastrophic head injuries as a separate category of catastrophic injuries, they often include:
- Contusions. A contusion is a bruise on the actual brain itself. It can cause swelling and bleeding.
- Intracranial hematoma (ICH). These hematomas refer to bleeding under the skull that forms a clot. Brain hematomas can range from mild to severe.
- Skull fracture. Skull fractures can crudely be described as broken skulls. Broken pieces of bone can cause bleeding and other types of related injuries.
Let a Jacksonville Traumatic brain injury Attorney at the Pope Law Firm Help During This Difficult Time
All of the injuries above represent only a few of the types of catastrophic injuries, and no two are exactly alike. Sill, a Jacksonville catastrophic injury lawyer at the Pope Law Firm, can guide you through the process and help you recover the necessary compensation to cover your future needs.