Irvine, CA, Burn Injury Lawyer

There’s no question that burn injuries are some of the most devastating and painful injuries that you can sustain. In many cases, burn injuries require you to spend time in the hospital, undergo surgery, and receive long-term inpatient care at a burn center for specialized treatment.

If you or someone in your family has experienced a burn injury because of wrongful action or negligence, the law may allow you to recover compensation to cover things like medical costs, mental suffering, physical suffering, and lost wages.

Our legal team has helped many people in Irvine and the surrounding areas to recover damages after burns and other types of catastrophic injuries. With verdicts totaling in the millions of dollars, you can count on our legal team at 888-407-2955 to provide you with the aggressive and experienced representation you need to recover the maximum compensation possible for your burn injury.

The Most Common Causes of Burn Injuries

A burn injury can happen in many accidents. Some of the most common types of accidents that result in burn injuries include:

• Defective products, including auto malfunctions or defects
• House fires
• Electrical accidents
• Motor vehicle accidents
• Industrial machinery accidents
• Construction accidents.

Along with burn injuries being caused by different types of accidents, several different types of burn injuries can occur, including:

• Thermal burns (this occurs when the body contacts flames or hot objects)
• Scalds caused by hot liquids
• Chemical burns
• Explosions that may occur in a workplace or motor vehicle accident
• Electrical burns that result from a defective product or coming in contact with power lines.

The source of your burn injury does not matter much when it comes to your injury and pain. However, there are some types of burns that are more likely to cause more serious and deeper damage.

Figuring Out Liability for a Burn Injury

There are many ways that a burn injury may occur. For example, they can occur because a defective product causes a fire or when someone comes in contact with an electrical line that was not properly marked, or even in a construction accident. Because of this, there are situations when more than one person may be considered negligent for serious burn injuries.

In some situations, proving negligence is as easy as showing that warning signs were not in place. In other situations, such as in a product defect lawsuit, proving negligence will create even more challenges and involve more complicated legal proceedings.

An example of this would be a motor vehicle accident. The design of a vehicle and some of the parts may result in a burn injury. Skilled legal teams will be able to identify all negligent parties that took part in making or selling a defective product.

Classifying Different Burn Degrees

Doctors will classify burns into three categories, which are called “degrees,” based on how severe they are. This ranges from milder first-degree burns to more serious third-degree burns.

The burn categories that are used to rate an injury include:

• First-degree burns: A first-degree burn is considered mild and will only impact the outermost layer of skin, which is called the epidermis. You can get this type of burn by momentarily touching something hot, like a pan on the stove. These types of burns will result in skin redness and immediate pain but will lessen as time passes.
• Second-degree burns: A second-degree burn is more serious and will go through the top layer of skin to the lower layer, which is called the dermis. You can get a second-degree burn if you accidentally spill boiling water on your body or if you touch a hot iron. Along with redness and pain, you will likely have swelling and blistering with a second-degree burn.
• Third-degree burns: The most severe type of burn you can experience is a third-degree burn. This type of burn will go all the way through your epidermis and dermis, causing damage to the tissue that is under it. Your skin may turn white or be blackened and charred. If the nerves are damaged in the burn, the area of your body may go numb. If you experience a more severe burn injury, then you will likely have grounds to file a lawsuit and recover compensation. These types of burns are most common from electrical shocks and fires.

In the medical field, other categories may be used. In fact, it may go all the way up to the sixth degree, which indicates burns that are so severe they go down to the muscles, tendons, ligaments, bones, and even your internal organs.

A third-degree burn or worse, especially in cases where they cover a large amount of your body, may cause several complications and require long-term hospitalization and even skin graft surgeries. If the burn causes damage to your muscle or other tissue, you may have to undergo physical therapy to regain your full range of motion. Due to the extensive nerve damage that can occur, a burn at this level can result in long-term chronic pain.

Potential Long-Term Complications Caused by Burn Injuries

There are some situations where a burn will not heal quickly or uniformly. Even though each patient will experience a unique outcome, there are some complications that may occur after a burn injury.

Some of the most common complications that can occur include:

Infections

This can include a skin infection that is caused by bacteria or sepsis, which occurs if an infection moves to the bloodstream. More serious infections can also cause organ failure, especially in a patient that is already compromised in some way.

Breathing Issues

Inhaling smoke or lung damage caused by inhaling hot air can hurt your ability to breathe and may require you to undergo respiratory therapy.

Scarring

Burns may result in scars on the skin. They can also cause the skin to contract, which will likely require surgery to replace or to graft the skin. A skin graft surgery may fail and add more issues and expenses to your treatment.

Fragile Skin

Sometimes, your skin may not completely recover from damage caused by a burn. It can thin out and suffer even more damage for the rest of your life.

Joint or Bone Problems

Contracted or scarred skin may also have a domino effect on your ligaments and tendons. This can occur even if the burn injury did not impact those tissues directly. All this can cause ongoing problems with joint movement.

Psychological Damage

A burn patient often experiences emotional and mental issues from the accident that caused their injuries.

The Lifetime Cost of a Burn Injury

The treatment costs for burn injuries can be in the millions of dollars. This is partly due to the complications that burn victims often experience. While burn injuries only represent about one percent of all the injuries that occur in the U.S., the treatments cost over $10.4 billion each year.

According to statistics, other costs related to burn injuries include:

• Skin contracture or scarring can increase treatment costs by over $35,000.
• Infections occur in around 33% of all severe burn situations and can add costs of more than $120,000 to treatment.
• Treatment for fragile skin can add over $107,000 to your treatment costs.
• Skin graft surgery failure and delayed wound healing can result in additional treatment costs of over $110,000.
• Counseling that is needed for the psychological issues that a burn injury causes can add over $75,000 to the treatment costs.

Ongoing treatment for a burn injury can last for several years. The cost of this can be in the millions of dollars. Therefore. settlements for burn injuries are often higher than for other types of personal injury. It’s necessary to factor in the future cost of treatment for the injury that was sustained.

Potential Damages for Serious Burn Injuries

If you or someone you loved suffered severe burns because of another party’s wrongful actions or negligence, it’s possible to recover some or all of the damages listed here, depending on your specific circumstances.

• Medical costs for current and future treatments
• Physical pain and suffering you endured
• Lost wages
• Mental suffering
• Loss of companionship.

Get In Touch with Our Irvine Burn Injury Accident Lawyer Today

If you suffer a burn injury that is caused by someone else’s negligence or wrongful act, you have the right to recover compensation. Our legal team is here to help ensure you receive the maximum compensation possible for your injuries and damages.

The first step is to get in touch with our Irvine burn injury lawyers at 888-407-2955. We can review the facts of your case and help ensure that you get the treatment you need for your burn injury case.