What Defines a Catastrophic Injury?
The emotional and physical fallout that you can experience after you have been involved in a traffic accident can traumatize you in a number of different ways, from leaving you with minor cuts, bumps, and bruises, to injuries from which you never completely heal, injuries that will have a negative impact on the rest of your life. You might even sustain an injury that is serious enough to necessitate lifelong physical therapy and around-the-clock medical attention.
These injuries would be considered catastrophic injuries in the State of California. To determine what qualifies as a catastrophic injury, California does not look just at the injury on its own, but it also takes into account what the medically-anticipated consequences from the injury will be.
If you have sustained an injury that is going to immensely change the manner in which you live your life, diminish your capacity for going to work and earning a living, lessen your ability to have any quality of life, or result in you requiring physical aid for the remainder of your life, then the injury is deemed catastrophic, no matter what the physical injury consisted of. Injuries that result in death qualify as catastrophic, but not all catastrophic injuries result in death.
How do Catastrophic Injuries Occur?
Catastrophic injuries could happen in hundreds of different ways. A few of the most frequently occurring ways include falls from a large height, motorcycle collisions, sports and leisure activities, bike accidents, construction accidents, tractor-trailer accidents, medical errors, at-work accidents, faulty medical devices or bad drugs and traffic accidents.
Lifelong Expenses That Could Become Necessary With a Catastrophic Injury
If you have sustained an injury that necessitates continual medical attention or repeated hospitalization, then it is most likely not feasible for you to physically go to work and put in the same hours and diligence that you were prior to your catastrophic injury. Expenses for things such as medications, therapy, and regular home nursing care will add up to a very large sum of debt and your expenses could become unmanageable quite suddenly. A few additional expenses that could accompany a catastrophic injury might be things like:
- Emergency medical costs;
- Ongoing medical treatment;
- Emotional trauma;
- In-home nursing care;
- Pain and suffering;
- Prescriptions;
- Decreased earning potential;
- Physical and occupational therapy;
- Lost income;
- Psychiatric care;
- Cost of renovating your house to allow access to a wheelchair or additional medical equipment; and/or
- Medical equipment, including a wheelchair, an adjustable bed, or an oxygen tank.
This list, while far from all-inclusive, is effective at demonstrating the vast array of injuries which can be referred to as catastrophic and the lifelong expenses and burdens that could arise from this type of injury.
If you or someone you love has been involved in a traffic accident and sustained any form of injury, it is critical that you hire a qualified California personal injury attorney to represent you and your best interests. At Los Angles Injury Group, we have a team of experienced attorneys who have extensive backgrounds in trying catastrophic injury cases. If you would like to consult with one of our hard-working attorneys in a free, no-obligation consultation regarding your car accident, then please give us a call at 310-954-7248 today.