Burn Injuries

Severe burn injuries can result wherever you combine people, negligence and explosive or flammable material – car accidents, truck or 18-wheeler accidents, products that burn or explode, structural fires, outdoor fires, and chemical/industrial accidents. A severe burn injury is one of the most painful and horrific injuries that a person can sustain. When experts in pain-management discuss levels of pain on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the worst, burn injuries are usually described as a 10 on that scale. People routinely survive the initial burn but continue to confront additional life-threatening complications from burn injuries that include respiratory/lung injuries, shock and infection.

Victims who survive severe burn injuries must then confront the long term issues for the rest of their lives that usually include the management of severe pain, psychological distress, disfigurement, nerve injuries, loss of limbs and scarring.

There are four different burn levels measured in degrees by medical doctors:

• First Degree Burn: Limited to the epidermis (first layer of skin). Generally results in minor pain and redness of the skin. Similar to a sunburn.
• Second Degree Burn: May involve the superficial and deep dermis layer of skin. Blistering will most likely appear on skin and if nerve damage is involved it can be extremely painful.
• Third Degree Burn: Subcutaneous tissue is severely damaged, causing the epidermis to become lost. A person will most likely also experience severe nerve damage, charring, scarring, loss of hair follicles/keratin and pain. A person with a third degree burn will also require skin grafts/skin reconstruction.
• Fourth Degree Burn: This type of burn is almost always fatal, especially if a person develops compartment syndrome. A person with a fourth degree burn will experience catastrophic injuries that may include: loss of hypodermis tissue, damage to the muscle, tendons and ligament tissue as a result of charring. Skin grafting is necessary if a person does survive.

If you or a loved one have been injured and burned due to a product malfunction or someone else’s negligence, recklessness and wrongdoing, call us. A victim or victims family may be entitled to monetary compensation for: medical expenses, future medical care, loss of wages, future loss of income, loss of benefits, loss of inheritance, mental anguish, pain and suffering, loss of companionship and funeral expenses.