You’ve had a traumatic experience as a victim of severe burn injuries in the aftermath of a fire. It’s a long haul ahead to treat your burn injury with significant medical expenses, loss of wages, mental anguish, and the potential of living with chronic pain due to severe burns.
Reach Out to a Burn Injury Attorney
If you have been involved in an accident or are a victim of a fire, chemical burns, thermal burns, or electrical burns, contact a personal injury attorney in New York with experience in burn injury cases. This includes having experience with handling cases for victims with first-, second-, and third-degree burns. A personal injury attorney will assist burn injury victims in investigating the cause of the injuries, gathering evidence to determine negligence, and help ensure the appropriate medical treatment.
Depending on the case and the details that caused the serious burn injuries, financial compensation to the burn injury victim may include payment for medical bills and expenses, ongoing medical care, surgery, burn unit treatment, skin grafts, lost wages, and pain and suffering. A serious burn injury can also result in compensation for emotional distress and loss of consortium. If a burn injury victim is no longer alive, the family can file a wrongful death lawsuit.
Types of Burns
According to the NIH, types of burns include the following:
- First-degree burns cause damage to the skin’s outer layer (epidermis). These burns typically heal on their own in about a week.
- Second-degree burns cause damage to both the outer layer and the layer beneath it (dermis). These burns may necessitate a skin graft—a piece of natural or artificial skin used to cover and protect the body while it heals—and may leave a scar.
- Third-degree burns destroy or damage both layers of skin, including hair follicles and sweat glands, as well as underlying tissues. Skin grafts are always required for these burns.
- Fourth-degree burns penetrate fat, fifth-degree burns penetrate muscle, and sixth-degree burns penetrate bone.
Common burn injuries include blisters, disfigurement, nerve damage, and physical pain and swelling.
Catastrophic Burn Injuries
Severe burn injuries can happen at work or at home. In addition, burn injuries can be caused by building fires, vehicular accidents, chemical accidents, defective products, electrocutions, gas explosions, and medical procedures (such as radiation burns).
Severe burns cause serious, systemic issues. The body’s explosive inflammatory response is at the root of the majority of these issues, according to the NIH.
Invaders such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, cancerous cells, toxins, and foreign materials are all protected by the body’s normal inflammatory response, which activates when there is an infection, injury, or other threat. Its purpose is to eliminate the source of the problem, contain the damage, and clean up the mess left behind by dead cells and other debris. When confronted with large or deep burns, however, the body can overreact, often exacerbating the injury and harming the heart, lungs, blood vessels, kidneys, and other organ systems.
Additionally, there is fluid loss during the inflammatory response, which can cause a sudden and potentially fatal drop in blood pressure known as shock. Fluid can also become trapped inside the body, resulting in edema, or swelling. Tissues and organs suffer damage and can fail if they do not receive enough oxygen due to shock, edema, or other factors. The lungs, heart, brain, and kidneys are especially vulnerable.
New York Burn Injury Attorneys
Burn victims should contact an experienced personal injury attorney to discuss their case. Burn injury lawyers can assist you in receiving the maximum compensation. When looking for a personal injury law firm to discuss your burn injury claims, ensure you are working with attorneys with the following criteria:
- An understanding of the pain and disfigurement that result from severe burn injuries
- Experienced in handling burn injury lawsuits
- Experienced in assessing responsibility for the injuries
- Able to assess current and future medical treatment and related costs and potential losses
- Experienced in evaluating damages and estimating the potential claim value
Contact Ronemus & Vilensky, LLP to Discuss Your Personal Injury Claim
Our experience and success as burn injury attorneys in New York City are unparalleled. We have assisted hundreds of fire injury victims, including those suffering from chemical burns, in navigating the complex and challenging legal system.
As the most experienced personal injury law firm in the greater New York City metro area, we have been called upon numerous times to provide competent legal advice and counsel and help victims recover damages. Take a look at several of the cases we have handled involving catastrophic injuries.
Personal injury lawyers Ronemus & Vilensky will provide you with a free consultation to discuss the specifics of your burn injury accident. Contact us at 212.779.7070.
