When you sustain an injury, you expect to go to the doctor, get a treatment plan, recover, and then get back to your regular life. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. A full recovery is never guaranteed. If an injury is severe enough, significant and permanent damages can leave the person with health complications for the rest of their life. When an injury affects your ability to be function normally and/or be gainfully employed the injury is referred to as catastrophic. If your injury was caused by the reckless or otherwise negligent actions of another, a reliable Chicago catastrophic injury lawyer may be able to help you get the compensation you need to move forward.
A catastrophic injury will usually have long-term effects on you and your family. The process of healing and recovery takes time and you may have to relearn how to do things you never gave a second thought to in the past, such as walking or reaching for something. With these weights on your shoulders, you’re also going to be dealing with hospital expenses, maintaining a household—putting food on the table, affording mortgage bills, and all of the other costs of living.
Krzak Rundio Gorman, Injury Attorneys can fight on your behalf to seek recovery of loss of past and future medical expenses; past and future lost wages; past and future pain and suffering; disfigurement and loss of enjoyment of life.
You may have questions about the injuries you sustained. We’ll explain the different kinds of injuries and the damages that ensue.
What Are the Kinds of Catastrophic Injuries?
There are many kinds of catastrophic injuries. You may have suffered from one of the following:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries
- Amputations
- Organ Damage
- Spinal Cord Injuries
- Electrocution
- Burn Injuries
- Toxic chemical exposure
Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) are one of the most common catastrophic injuries. When the brain is hit, jolted, or bumped, it can have serious consequences on the person’s ability to think and remember, and it can also affect other functions like speech and mobility. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC), reported 2.87 million TBI-related cases that resulted in visits to the emergency department, hospitalizations, and deaths in 2014 in the United States.
Amputations can either happen during the accident or a limb can be so damaged that doctors must remove it. Individuals can also suffer internal organ damage, which can be deadly if not detected and treated quickly. A broken spine can limit mobility and cause permanent paralysis.
Electrocution can affect your entire body. The shock harms muscles, skin, the heart, lungs, and can cause seizures. A burn injury can reach a severity where the deep tissue and bones are affected, most likely causing permanent nerve damage. Toxic chemical exposure can also cause burns; inhaling certain chemicals may also cause future illnesses like neurological disorders or cancer.
All these injuries require intensive medical care. As you move toward reaching maximum medical improvement, you may not realize the long road ahead of you. Recovery can take years and may be filled with multiple procedures and surgeries. These all have their own attached risks as well.
When you’re going through this, you may wonder how your injury even occurred in the first place. Let’s look into what can cause catastrophic injuries.
How Do Catastrophic Injuries Happen?
As there are so many kinds of catastrophic injuries, there are many ways in which they can occur. The one common factor that unites them is that they all boil down to negligence or reckless conduct.
A negligent manager may not give their employees proper training or keep the workspace safe. A careless driver may not pay attention to the road or could be under the influence, get behind the wheel, and cause a car accident. Other motor vehicle accidents include trucking and motorcycle crashes, which also have the potential to cause irreparable harm. Property owners may not maintain their premises, putting visitors at risk of getting an injury. Companies can cut corners with their products, selling unsafe products that could cause significant harm to customers. Pharmacists can mistakenly give out the wrong drug or the wrong dosage. Patients taking the wrong drug could suffer from an allergic reaction in addition to not treating their condition and an improper dosage could prove fatal.
Every injury case is unique. For that reason, an injured individual needs a trusted personal injury lawyer to help navigate through their case. They’ll work through what happened, find out the identity of the negligent party, and connect how their actions or inactions caused your injuries. They will also develop the facts necessary to present your case in a manner that will make an insurance adjuster or a jury understand your injuries so that maximum compensation can be obtained.
What Are the Unexpected Effects of Catastrophic Injuries?
While being unable to return to your job is a significant source of stress, there are other aspects attached to catastrophic injuries that you may not consider until you experience them. Loss of enjoyment of life can occur when your injury prevents you from being able to take part in activities that you previously enjoyed. This could be a hobby, a sport, or something as simple as being able to pick up your child or grandchild. When this is suddenly taken away from you, the emotional toll weighs down on you.
Loss of enjoyment of life and pain and suffering are non-economic losses. Your hospital bills and other physical damages can be totaled to an exact amount, making them economic losses. Your attorneys can look at your bills and expenses, and then fight for compensation to cover these costs. But the non-economic impact of the injuries must also be taken into consideration.
Emotional and mental injuries are common when you cannot completely return to your life before the accident. If you’re suffering from depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, or other forms of mental illness, you need to get the right treatment. You may need professional therapy and/or medication. Your attorney should also include these types of costs in analyzing and preparing your case.
Your Chicago injury attorneys will fully evaluate how the catastrophic injury has impacted your life and proceed to trial, if necessary to assure you get fully compensated for your injuries. Skilled lawyers know how to document and present damages in order to maximize recovery.
Get Trusted Legal Representation
Krzak Rundio Gorman, Injury Attorneys will represent your best interests. We understand that when you suffer a catastrophic injury that your entire life has been altered. We will do everything we can to secure your future so you can focus on your recovery. Those who caused your injuries should be held accountable and we will do everything we can to understand that their actions were unacceptable, so this never happens to anyone else. Contact our legal team today so we can assist you.
