Burn injuries are some of the most painful and terrifying injuries an auto accident victim can endure. The healing process, alone, tends to be grueling, and victims of burn injuries often face a lifetime of associated challenges. If you or someone you love has suffered a burn injury due to another driver’s negligence, discuss the matter with an experienced Plantation car accident lawyer today.
Car Accidents and Burns
Car accidents generate immense energy, and the final impact can cause one or both vehicles to explode in flames, which puts everyone involved at serious risk of suffering burns. Car accidents, however, don’t have to involve fiery crashes to put the car occupants at considerable risk of suffering dangerous burns.
Exposure to these can lead to serious burns in a car accident:
- Metal or other materials that become overheated in the accident
- Hot debris that is strewn in the course of the accident
- The deployment of airbags
- Chemicals, gas, or steam that escapes during the accident
- Any live electrical currents that the vehicle may come in contact with during the accident
Emergency Care for Car Accident Burns
If you are involved in a car accident of any kind, it is always in your best interest to seek medical attention. It’s too easy for serious injuries to slip through the cracks and morph into wounds that are even more serious and far more difficult to treat effectively.
The Mayo Clinic highlights specific signs that mean it is time to seek emergency care for a burn injury, and they include:
- The burn is on your hands, feet, groin, buttocks, or face.
- The burn is deep.
- The burn covers a large area of your body.
- The burn is on a major joint, such as your wrist, knee, ankle, shoulder, or elbow.
As Burns Heal
As mentioned, burns are highly susceptible to dangerous infections, leaving the victim vulnerable to serious complications throughout the healing process. As burns heal, the damaged area thickens and becomes less pliant, which can seriously impede movement in that area of the body.
If the burn encircles a body part, it can also cut off circulation, which means that a doctor will need to surgically relieve the pressure. When a severe burn happens on or near the victim’s face, it can be permanently disfiguring.
Severe burns are a form of catastrophic injury that often require long-term care and can necessitate all the following specialized treatments:
- Physical therapy to help gain pliancy in areas that have tightened or in joints that have become both stiff and painful to move
- Multiple surgeries that can include painful skin grafts
- Plastic surgeries to help remove excess scarring
Losses Endured From Car Accident Burns
Severe burns are so painful and disruptive that the pain and suffering endured often amounts to a tremendous emotional loss. The losses you experience as a result of being burned in a violent car crash generally include several basic categories.
Medical expenses
As mentioned, the medical costs associated with serious burns are very likely to be ongoing. Burns are closely associated with serious complications such as infections, but as they heal, they can become problematic in different ways – by restricting your movement and even your circulation, for example.
If your burn stretches across your torso or chest, it can impede your breathing. Serious burns generally require the specialized services of burn care facilities.
Lost income
Burns are generally very slow to heal, which means you can expect to experience considerable losses in terms of earnings on the job. If your burn injury keeps you off the job permanently, the financial losses – in addition to the attendant emotional pain – can be overwhelming. Even a minor tweak to your earning capacity can translate to a lifetime of financial loss.
Pain and suffering
It’s difficult to imagine an injury more physically and psychologically painful than a severe burn. The burn itself is painful — as are the healing process and the required treatments. Once healed, the affected area can be painful to move naturally and can impede natural movement.
The emotional effects of having a permanently altered appearance can be difficult to overstate, and this is in addition to other common emotional responses to living through a terrifying car accident that was caused by someone else’s negligence and that leaves you seriously injured in the process.
Consider the following:
- Burn victims can suffer haunting flashbacks to the fiery crashes they lived through.
- Burn victims can suffer mood swings, increased anxiety, and pronounced symptoms of depression.
- Burn victims can experience sleep disturbances that include night terrors.
- Burn victims sometimes hide from the outside world, including from friends and loved ones who could offer significant support.
- Burn victims can suffer other classic signs of PTSD.
Burned in a Car Accident? Contact a Plantation, FL, Car Accident Lawyer
Here at Scarfone Auto Accident and Personal Injury Attorneys in Plantation, Florida, we help car crash burn injury victims seek rightful compensation. Rocco Scarfone is a trusted car accident attorney who passionately advocates for the rights of clients like you. We can review your case today at no charge to you!
Pick up the phone and call Scarfone at 561-609-1200 or contact us online for more information today.