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Catastrophic Injuries Can Cause Devastation to Families
Injuries that leave victims with life-changing and severe emotional or physical damages are considered catastrophic injuries. Catastrophic injuries come in many forms, but all can leave victims and their families with long-term medical treatment, therapy, changes to daily life, and financial, emotional, and physical strain. These injuries may result from any incident, including a car accident, motorcycle accident, premises liability case, or medical malpractice.
If you have suffered a catastrophic injury as the result of someone else’s negligence or wrongful actions, you have the right to financial compensation for your injuries and pain. A catastrophic injury attorney in Los Angeles can help you protect your rights and seek the compensation you deserve.
Compensation for Catastrophic Injuries in Los Angeles
Victims who have received a catastrophic injury due to the negligence or recklessness of someone else are entitled to compensation for their injuries. Potential compensation for your catastrophic injury may include:
- Monetary damages. These damages are awarded to reduce the financial burden of the injury. Monetary damages in a catastrophic injury case may include current and future medical expenses, physical therapy, lost wages, and reduced earning capacity.
- Non-monetary damages. These costs are much harder to equate to a specific dollar amount as they are designed to compensate for the psychological and emotional impact of your injury. This type of compensation is awarded based on your pain and suffering and how your injury has affected your quality of life. Loss of companionship may also be a factor.
- Punitive damages are awarded in rare cases as a means of punishing the responsible party for extreme recklessness or negligence. Punitive damages are most common in distracted or drunk driving cases.
Brain Injuries in Los Angeles
Every year, about 1.7 million people sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI). While most injuries are minor, more than 500,000 people every year require hospitalization for a head injury. Head injuries may cause permanent brain damage and lead to mental, physical, and behavioral changes. Long-term effects of a traumatic brain injury can be tough to determine at the onset of the injury, which means the ordeal can linger for years or the rest of the victim’s life.
Brain injuries are classified as closed or open. Open injuries occur when the skull is fractured, usually due to a serious fall or a car accident. Closed head injuries do not involve a bone fracture or open wound, but the damage may be just as severe due to blood clots and brain swelling. These injuries are often the cause of car accidents, but they can also result from falls, blunt trauma, workplace accidents, and recreational accidents.
Amputation Injury Cases
Life can change in the blink of an eye when a catastrophic accident causes the loss of a limb or requires amputation of a body part. Amputation accidents are life-altering as they come with not only physical but emotional devastation. The medical costs of amputation alone can be significant as most insurance policies do not adequately cover the surgery. Victims of a traumatic amputation accident require surgery as well as extended hospitalization and extensive rehabilitation. In many cases, victims are left with significant ongoing medical costs, prosthetics, vocational training, home modifications, and more.
About 1.8 million in the U.S. are living with limb loss, according to the National Limb Loss Information Center. Nearly 70% of accident-related amputations involve the upper limbs such as the hands or arms. While males are at a higher risk than females for traumatic amputation, the risk increases with age as the elderly are at the highest risk of traumatic amputation.
Amputation or traumatic dismemberment can be the result of a traffic accident, workplace accident, defective product, medical malpractice (such as failure to diagnose), and many other situations. Victims who have suffered amputation due to someone else’s negligence are entitled to economic compensation and non-economic compensation (such as pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life).
Head Injuries
Head injuries are any injuries to the scalp, skull, or brain. Head injuries may be very mild and result in nothing more than a bruise or bump or they can lead to traumatic brain injury, a potentially serious condition that can have life-changing effects. These injuries are classified as open or closed. Open head injuries mean that the skull has been fractured or punctured, whereas a closed injury does not involve the skull being broken. Some of the most common head injuries in California include:
- Hemorrhage when the space around the brain or within the brain bleeds uncontrollably.
- Edema or swelling which happens when the skull is unable to accommodate swelling of the brain and builds pressure.
- Concussion when the brain strikes the inside of the skull with force.
- Hematoma or clotting outside of blood vessels which can increase pressure within the skull.
- Skull fractures.
- Diffuse axonal injuries which cause brain damage without any bleeding. These injuries do not display common signs of a brain injury and this makes them especially dangerous.
Head injuries are among the most serious types of personal injury as many cases also involve brain damage. Even a minor head injury that does not cause immediate symptoms can cause long-lasting or permanent consequences. This is why it is important to treat any head injury as serious and consult with an experienced head injury lawyer.
Burn Injuries in Los Angeles
Burn injuries are often serious and painful, usually requiring a long recovery. Burns are not just painful; they have permanent psychological and physical effects. Along with scarring, many burn victims are left with permanent nerve damage and tissue damage that can lead to disability or blindness.
Burn injuries, which may be caused by radiation, gas, heat, chemicals, or electricity, are considered one of the most painful of all non-fatal injuries. If your burn injuries are the result of someone else’s negligence or recklessness, you are entitled to compensation for current and future medical expenses, physical therapy, plastic surgery, psychological counseling, medication, reduced earning capacity, lost wages, pain and suffering, and mental anguish.
Contact a Catastrophic Injury Attorney in Los Angeles
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If you or someone you love has suffered a catastrophic injury as a result of someone else’s negligence or recklessness, it’s important to seek legal representation from an experienced personal injury attorney. Severe injury cases are often complex and insurance companies routinely offer settlements that are not enough to cover the damages sustained by victims. Contact the Los Angeles Injury Group today for a free consultation with a catastrophic injury lawyer in Los Angeles who will help you protect your rights and seek the maximum compensation for your pain and injuries.