Gulfport Catastrophic Injuries
Reclaiming your quality of life after being involved in a catastrophic injury can seem challenging, but with the help of an experienced attorney—it’s possible.
In 2018, there were 24.5 million emergency room visits for unintentional injuries, with 173,040 fatalities occurring for the same reason. It’s no secret that motor vehicle accidents, workplace accidents, and other types of personal injury are dangerous, but people often don’t think about how much one’s life changes after a catastrophic injury.
What Classifies as a Catastrophic Injury?
A catastrophic injury is one that greatly impacts one’s quality of life. Catastrophic injuries often include traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury. These types of injuries will leave people with disabilities, major scarring, neurological disorders, and high medical bills. Catastrophic injuries also often leave people with mental disorders such as PTSD and depression, as the accidents that cause their injuries can be very traumatic.
These injuries are much different than regular injury cases, especially because there’s a lot of money on the line. That means it’s even more important to hire an experienced attorney, that way you can be sure you’ll get the maximum amount of compensation for your damages.
What Types of Accidents Cause Catastrophic Injuries?
Any type of personal injury accident can cause a catastrophic injury to occur. Catastrophic injuries often occur when people are acting with extreme negligence. For example, driving too fast or using hazardous chemicals without any safety precautions.
However, catastrophic injuries are possible in all types of accidents, even ones that appear to be minor.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Each year there are approximately two million car accidents that leave victims with permanent injuries. Car accidents can be especially dangerous when people are drinking and driving, texting or talking on the phone while driving, or speeding.
While car accidents can and do cause catastrophic injuries, commercial truck accidents cause them much more frequently because of the sheer force a commercial truck can cause when it impacts a smaller passenger vehicle.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents can result in injuries that range from mild to severe. A catastrophic injury is common especially when one strikes their head off of a hard surface, such as a countertop or floor. When falling on your back, you can also experience severe injuries, like damage to the spinal cord.
Workplace Injury
Workplace injuries can be especially dangerous because of the amount of heavy machinery that construction sites use. Construction site injuries can be caused by explosions, fires, and falls from large heights, all of which can cause severe damage to a person’s body.
What Types of Injuries are Catastrophic?
A catastrophic injury is one that results in a huge change in one’s life and a lot of medical debt. Basically, if your injury has a huge impact on your life—for example if it leaves you with a permanent disability—and costs you a lot of money for treatment, it may be considered catastrophic.
Back and Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries are dangerous as they can cause paralysis and permanent disability. Spinal cord injuries occur when the back is struck with a great force. They can occur because of motor vehicle accidents, slip and falls, and workplace injuries.
Spinal cord injuries are also very expensive. Many victims are required to have lifelong physical therapy, doctor’s visits, visits with specialists, and more just to manage their pain throughout the years.
Head and Brain Injuries
Traumatic brain injuries are caused when the head is struck or penetrated with great force. They are incredibly common in slip and fall and workplace injuries, as it’s common for the head to strike something when someone falls.
Just like with spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injury patients may require lifetime care. Their injuries can also cause them to experience brain death, coma, vegetative state, or permanent brain damage.
Amputations
In motorcycle accidents, large truck accidents, and car accidents, amputations can occur because of extreme damage to the extremities. Amputation may occur at the scene of the accident, or the limb may be removed in surgery to keep the rest of the body safe.
After an amputation, there’s a large adjustment period where patients will have to relearn how to perform pretty much every aspect of their life. Not to mention they’ll also have to pay for the cost of prosthetics, which are quite expensive. The price of a prosthetic leg can range from $5,000 to $50,000 and they’re only built to withstand a few years of wear and tear.
How Much Compensation Will You Receive?
The amount of compensation you receive from your catastrophic injury case will depend on a few different factors, such as:
- The severity of your injuries and how they’ll continue to affect your life in the future
- The total of all of your damages, both economic and non-economic
- How much insurance coverage the defendant has available
- Whether or not gross negligence was involved in your accident
No two cases are exactly the same, but you’ll be able to get a good idea of how much compensation to expect after speaking with a talented catastrophic injury attorney about your case.
How Can an Attorney Help You With Your Catastrophic Injury Case?
If you or someone you love has been injured in a catastrophic injury, please contact our team of attorneys here at Jones Law Group, as soon as possible. Our team will be able to help you get the compensation that you deserve for your damages, while also helping you to get justice against the at-fault party.
Our years of experience and the relationships we’ve built within the community will be vital to your case. We’ll put in hard work while you focus on recovering from your injuries.
For more information or a free case evaluation, please contact us online or at 727-571-1333.