As your burn injury attorney, we can help you get compensation for medical treatment and more
According to the American Burn Association, there were about 486,000 burn injuries in 2016. Of these injuries, approximately 40,000 were serious enough to require hospitalization. Burn injuries can be quite painful, but the good news is that they are also very treatable. Thanks to advances in research, medicine, and technology, today most patients can expect a good outcome after a burn injury—assuming, of course, that they get proper medical care.
If you have been burned due to someone else’s negligence, that party should be responsible for paying your medical bills. You can make them do this by filing a personal injury claim. However, before you file your claim, it is very important to make sure you have had a qualified doctor create a comprehensive treatment plan for you. This way, you can ensure that you include all your medical costs in your claim, so that your compensation will cover all the care you need to make your recovery.
For relatively minor burns, the only treatment needed may be focused wound care and infection prevention measures. However, more severe burn injuries damage more than just the top layer of the skin or the epidermis. They also damage the dermis, which is the layer of tissue beneath the skin that contains nerve endings, capillaries, sweat glands, hair follicles, and other important structures. For these types of injuries, some form of skin graft is typically required.
There are many different methods of skin grafting that may be used. Autografts, or grafts using the patient’s own skin, are common for small burn injuries. When the area of the burn is larger, another type of graft must be used. Possibilities include allografts (skin from another person), xenografts (skin from an animal) and skin substitutes.
Researchers are exploring ways to grow new skin in the lab, rather than taking it from a donor. For example, Japanese researchers recently developed a technique for growing skin—complete with hair follicles and sweat glands—from the cells of a mouse. A graft using this material would provide a more functional skin for burn victims than is available with other types of skin substitutes.
For especially severe burn injuries that have caused damage to muscle and bone, a skin graft cannot solve the problem. Often, amputation is required.
In addition to treatments that help the burn heal, burn injury victims may also need cosmetic surgery to address scarring from the burn or from any skin grafts that were used.
Let Us Help You Get the Care You Need
If you have suffered a burn injury in an accident that was not your fault, The Law Offices of Larry H. Parker can help. We can not only handle all the legal steps involved in filing your claim; we can help ensure you are asking for the right amount of compensation in your claim. We’ve handled many burn injury cases in the past so we are familiar with the types of treatment that are required as well as the pain and suffering burn injury victims experience. We can use this knowledge to help you understand the potential value of your claim, and then fight aggressively to secure the compensation you need to cover your current and future medical costs, as well as other damages. To get started, call us at 800-333-0000 for a free consultation.
