Each year, numerous people will experience life-altering burn injuries. Burns cause excruciating pain, which can linger for months, or even years. In addition to leaving disfiguring scars on the skin, severe burns can also permanently damage nerves, blood vessels, tissues, muscles, and bones.
If you recently sustained a serious burn, you likely have a challenging recovery ahead of you. You might need complicated medical procedures, such as skin grafts, as well as extensive rehabilitation therapy. You might also need emotional therapy to help you cope with your changed circumstances. If your injuries have forced you to take some time off from your job, you may also require financial assistance.
Fortunately, an Elgin burn injury lawyer is available for guidance. A skilled catastrophic injury attorney could help you pursue a financial recovery for your losses, by settling with the defendant or taking the case to trial.
Common Causes of Burns in Elgin
When people think of burns, they generally think of open flames, but burns can occur from various sources. Some of the more frequent causes of burn injuries are:
- Residence fires: People suffer devastating burns from the fires in their houses or apartments.
- Automobile accidents: Serious burns can result when gasoline or exposed wires start fires after car accidents.
- Workplace accidents: Employees suffer chemical or scalding burns at factories, construction sites, kitchen flames, chemicals, faulty wiring, hot liquids, or explosions.
- Electrocution and shock: Exposed and faulty wires can burn skin and nerves.
- Radiation burns: Any kind of radiation, including the medical radiation used for cancer treatment, can cause damaging burns.
- Defective consumer products: Faulty wiring, damaged electrical cords, and other defects in consumer products such as space heaters, toasters, and other household appliances can cause burns.
It is essential to reach out to a local burn injury attorney as soon as possible after the incident. The right legal representative could investigate to see if anyone else might be responsible for the plaintiff’s burn. They could then help a claimant pursue financial compensation from the defendant in a workers’ compensation suit or a product liability suit.
The Different Degrees of Burns
Doctors and other health care practitioners classify burns according to their degree of severity in the following manner:
- First degree burns, which are the least dangerous, affect only the first layer of skin. They usually heal on their own, with no scarring and without medical care.
- Second degree burns are more painful because they affect two layers of skin. They often require surgical intervention and leave permanent scars.
- Third degree burns are serious because they affect all layers of skin and underlying tissue. They frequently require skin grafting and other extensive forms of surgery.
- Fourth degree burns are often fatal because they affect all layers of the skin, and destroy the underlying tissues, nerves, muscles, and bones.
An Elgin burned skin lawyer could speak with the claimant’s doctors to comprehend the severity of the wounds and the claimant’s potential prognosis, limitations, and future needs. They could then apply their knowledge of burns to determine what kind of compensation might be available in a settlement or lawsuit.
Reach Out for Legal Help from an Elgin Burn Injury Attorney
Burns leave survivors with physical, emotional, and financial wounds. If you suspect somebody else is responsible for causing your burn, you should reach out for legal assistance. Put your trust into the hands of a skilled Elgin burn injury lawyer to handle the legal and financial issues while you focus on healing. Call us today for a consultation.