Burn injuries are among the most traumatic and painful type of injury a victim can suffer through. Recovery takes a long time, and scarring, both physically and emotionally, takes a tremendous toll on the victim and their entire family.
Costs for recovery are significant and involve things such as medical bills, lost wages, therapy and rehabilitation costs. In many cases, victims can never return to the normalcy of their previous lives, leading to additional psychological trauma that can last for many years.
Burn victims do not just suffer injuries from fires. Nearly one million people suffer from burns each year, which can happen in a variety of ways.
Chemical burns
Defective electrical products
Flammable products such as blankets and clothing
Explosions
Electrical burns
Car accidents
Burns are classified by the degree of depth, which will have an impact on how much pain and suffering there will be, and the amount of recovery time that will be needed.
First degree burns are superficial and only damage the outer layer of the skin. A mild sunburn is a good example of a first-degree burn.
A second-degree burn involves damaging the outer layer of the skin and part of the second layer as well. Second-degree burns are red, painful and involve blistering.
Third-degree burns are the most traumatic and destroy all layers of skin and cause damage to muscles, bones, tendons and organs. Outer skin surfaces will be charred and there is little or no pain because nerve endings have been destroyed.
Retaining an attorney is essential for all types of burn injury cases. Depending on the nature of how the burn took place, an attorney will need to process several pieces of forensic evidence as part of the process to affix responsibility. Many times, fire scenes are dynamic in nature, meaning that evidence can be jostled, hidden or damaged during fire suppression activities.
An attorney will have the resources to retain experts on the victim’s behalf to undertake the critical and painstaking search for that evidence to make sure that the burn victim’s interests are protected.
Choulos, Choulos & Wyle proudly serve clients in San Francisco, Oakland and in cities throughout the Bay Area.
