Burn Injury Lawyer Charlotte, NC
If you have suffered a burn injury due to someone else’s negligence, you may want to consult a Charlotte, NC burn injury lawyer from Ted A. Greve & Associates. You may be entitled to compensation. An attorney can help you file a personal injury claim against the negligent parties.
Common Causes of Burn Injuries
These types of injuries cause a lot of pain and can result in permanent scarring. If your burns resulted from another party’s carelessness, you deserve to be fairly compensated for that. Here are some common causes of burn injuries.
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Defective Products
When you purchase a product, you expect it to be safe and work properly. Unfortunately, however, it does not always work out this way. In fact, sometimes products are faulty and cause serious injuries, including burn injuries. For example, if a blow-dryer is defective, it may result in burns on your head. Other defective products that can cause burns include bleach, car polish, paint thinner and bleach. If you suffered a burn injury from a product, you may be able to sue the product manufacturer.
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Apartment Fires
A large percentage of these injuries result from apartment fires. Common causes of apartment fires include smoking, faulty electrical wiring and gas leaks. In addition, missing or broken smoke alarms can be a hazard. Landlords are responsible for making sure the premises are safe and can be held responsible if tenants are hurt.
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Vehicle Accidents
When many people think about car accident injuries, they likely imagine head injuries, whiplash and broken bones. However, as a Charlotte burn injury lawyer can confirm, they can also result in a severe burn. If a vehicle’s fuel tank erupts during an accident, it can cause a fire, potentially hurting passengers inside. If the accident is caused by a negligent driver, that driver may be considered liable.
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Work Accidents
Not many people expect to go into work and get injured. Unfortunately, it can happen. Workers can suffer a wide range of injuries, including burns, especially if they work in the construction, shipping or chemical processing industries.
Charlotte Burn Injury Infographic
Damages for Burn Injuries
If you file a personal injury claim, you may be entitled to several damages, including:
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Medical Bills
Burn injuries often require emergency medical treatment and long hospital stays. If the burns were very serious, you may require skin grafting and rehabilitation. You may be able to recover these medical expenses by filing an injury claim.
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Lost Wages
Serious burns can prevent you from working for a while. You may be able to get compensated for this.
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Pain and Suffering
A severe burn may affect your physical and mental health for a long time. For example, you may frequently wake up in the middle of the night with pain or develop severe depression. If this is the case, you may be entitled to pain and suffering damages.
Burn Injuries and Your Options
A Charlotte, NC burn injury lawyer knows how traumatic this kind of injury can be. When you are dealing with severe burns after an accident, you may be looking into what kinds of treatment you need. In some instances, immediately following the accident you may not have a choice. You could be at the hospital, unconscious, and a doctor may be making certain choices on your behalf. However, there are other times when you will have the choice when it comes to how you may want to live with these injuries and what kind of treatment options you want to pursue. There may be plastic surgeries and reconstructive surgeries that your doctor is offering. Without a fair settlement, reconstructive work may sound like it is not even an option.
Different Treatment Options For Burns
To determine what the best plan of action is, your doctor will first need to assess the damage and determine what degree of burn you have.
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First-Degree Burn
If you were in an accident and got first-degree burns, this will be the least damaging type of burn. A first-degree burn damages the superficial–top–layer of your skin. You may notice that the burn area is red, painful, and slightly swollen. While this will not always need medical intervention, your doctor may have a specific treatment plan for you if the burn is large. With this type of burn, you should typically not expect a lengthy recovery time and your doctor will likely recommend you get antibiotic ointments.
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Second-Degree Burns
If your doctor diagnoses you with a second-degree burn, you have a burn that has damaged both your epidermis and dermis, the first two layers of skin. A second-degree burn leaves victims with a higher chance of getting an infection and the site may begin to blister. This can cause a problem because a popped blister can quickly lead to infection. Your doctor will recommend plenty of fluids to counteract dehydration, wearing loose-fitting clothing, covering up blisters, and possibly using antibiotics if an infection is present. A Charlotte burn injury lawyer can even assist with doctor selection if needed.
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Third-Degree Burns
If you are suffering from third-degree burns, you are dealing with the most severe of the three. These types of burns permeate the first two layers of skin and damage the fat layers underneath. Not only will the victim often need to undergo debriding of the wounds (removing damaged tissue), but they may also need skin grafts. Third-degree burn victims may also need physical therapy if their burns affected their ability to move around. These victims may have injuries for months, years, or they may never fully go away.
Get the Help You Need For Your Burn Injuries
A Charlotte burn injury lawyer knows that waking up after such a severe injury is like waking up in an entirely different world. Everything around you continues to move on while you are trying your best to recover and find a semblance of normalcy in life. If you are the victim of an accident that caused you to get burned, you should not feel that there is no hope for recovering compensation. You may be owed damages when someone else’s negligence or recklessness caused you to be injured. When you are ready to fight this, call Ted A. Greve & Associates.
If you want to pursue a personal injury claim for your burn injuries, you should schedule a consultation with a Charlotte burn injury lawyer today.
Burn Injury Statistics
A Charlotte, NC burn injury lawyer from Ted A. Greve & Associates knows that one of the most serious types of accident injuries a victim can suffer is a burn injury. According to statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO), about 180,00 people die each year in the United States from burn injuries. Approximately 3,000 of those burn victims die in fire-related incidents – one victim every three hours.
Even a minor burn injury can be serious and painful. If you have ever had a sunburn, you understand the discomfort. Severe burns can lead to life-threatening issues.
Causes of Burn Injuries
Each year, approximately 480,000 people in the U.S. receive medical treatment for burn injuries. These burns occur when the victim comes into contact with fire, chemicals, electric current, or hot liquids. Fire burns are responsible for almost 50 percent of all burn injuries. Scalding burns are the second most common cause of burns, responsible for about 40 percent of all burn injuries. Chemical and electric burns are responsible for the remaining 10 percent of injuries. Many chemical and electric burns are job-related.
Burn Injury Accidents
One of the most common causes of burn injuries are vehicle accidents. The vehicle catches on fire or explodes. Car accident victims can also be burned if hot liquids from the vehicle spray out after the collision.
Scalding accidents can happen in restaurants, hair salons, and spas. Other types of incidents that can result in burn injuries include contact with hot metal or glass, radiation, electrical current, ultraviolet radiation, cleaning products, acids, gasoline, paint thinner, and other chemicals.
Degrees of Burn Injury
A Charlotte burn injury lawyer is aware that the severity of a burn injury depends on the degree classification. It can take several days after the initial incident for a doctor to make that determination:
- First-degree – This is usually classified as a minor burn since it only affects the epidermis (the outer layer), however, victims still deal with redness and pain.
- Second-degree – These burns create damage down to the dermis (the second layer). Victims often struggle with blistering, swelling, and splotches on the skin. There is also significant pain with second-degree burns.
- Third-degree burns – Third-degree burns go deep down layers of the skin to the fat located underneath. These burns often damage nerves and leave the victim dealing with numbness.
Long-Term Health Issues
Victims who suffer from burn injuries often have chronic health issues that they are forced to deal with. Many of these issues are life-long. Some of the most common that a Charlotte burn injury lawyer is aware of includes:
- Chronic pain
- Scarring
- Itching
- Insomnia
- Thermaregulartory issues
Many burn issues also are left dealing with mental health issues from their injuries. There can be a significant emotional impact on burn victims given the continued health issues and scarring the burns leave them with. Issues such as depression and anxiety are common. Victims are also often left feeling a lack of confidence and low self-esteem, as well as a loss of energy. Contact a lawyer today at Ted A. Greve & Associates.
Burn Injury Lawyer FAQs
Who is Liable for a Burn Injury?
Burn injury accidents are a case-by-case scenario regarding who or what is at fault, and it’s important to work with a Charlotte, NC burn injury lawyer to determine who all is liable for your accident. Depending on your situation, you may have more than one at-fault party. Also depending on where you were when you were burned, you may be able to file premises liability claim. This claim refers to the property owner’s responsibility to keep you safe while visiting the property. Business owners and property managers are expected to take the utmost care of guests on their property. Should a property owner be found negligent of a fire hazard and you therefore suffered injury, you deserve the best legal enforcement and protection possible.
How Long Does Recovery from a Burn Injury Usually Take?
As previously mentioned, burns can either be first, second, or third degree burns. It’s crazy to think a minor burn can only take a matter of days to heal, but a third-degree burn can take months to heal. Your doctor will be able to give you a more specific timeline of how long your recovery will take, but victims can often unfortunately underestimate how long it takes for your body to recover from third degree burns. In other words, you should anticipate longer than expected for burns to heal over. It takes loads of time for your skin to remodel and you want to be as easy on your body as possible.
What Are the Stages of Burn Recovery?
The human body is massively impressive when it comes to healing itself. While life-threatening and severe burns require intensive medical care and surgery, a lot of burn recovery is maintaining the patience for the skin and overall body to heal. There are actually three specific stages of healing: inflammatory (reactive), proliferative (reparative), and maturation (remodeling). Given burn recovery is a long, daunting process, you want as much emotional space and room to focus on getting back into a routine and normal life. A Charlotte burn injury lawyer removes the heavy legal burdens off your shoulders following a burn accident. It’s in your best interest to let a lawyer step in and represent your case.
What If I Suffer a Burn Injury at Work?
If you’ve suffered a burn injury at your work due to someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to workers’ compensation in order to recover medical and financial damages. It’s a serious matter to face a burn injury at your job, and then be unable to return to work for a period of time because you’re recovering. It’s not your fault that you cannot receive income. Your employer, or whoever else is responsible for your burn injury, is liable for your intense pain and suffering.
How Does a Burn Injury Lawyer Help?
In addition to removing all of the legal stress from your life as a victim, a Charlotte burn injury lawyer will examine the nature of the burn accident from all angles. It’s important to understand all of the details that caused the accident – this ultimately leads to getting you the highest compensation possible for your situation. A lawyer will also clearly communicate with you every step of the way so you understand how the case is progressing at all times. A good lawyer will advocate for you, fight for you, and make sure you have access to your basic rights when facing personal injury. Contact Ted A. Greve & Associates if you are seeking legal counsel for a burn injury.
