You will likely have significant needs if you suffer a catastrophic injury in a car accident, truck accident, workplace accident, motorcycle accident, or another accident. You will likely face expensive medical bills and a long recovery time. You may miss significant time from work. You might even need a caretaker to help you meet your daily needs.
If someone else was responsible for your accident in San Antonio, TX, you may be entitled to compensation for these damages. Our San Antonio catastrophic injury lawyers at George Salinas Injury Lawyers can help you understand your rights and options.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation with a San Antonio catastrophic injury attorney. Call (210) 225-0909 today for your free consultation.
How George Salinas Injury Lawyers Can Help You
An injury claim may be your only way to recover compensation for your medical treatments and other damages after a catastrophic injury. An experienced San Antonio, Texas personal injury lawyer can be a major asset to your claim.
The legal team at George Salinas Injury Lawyers has decades of combined experience in personal injury and insurance law. We’ve recovered hundreds of millions for our injured clients.
When you hire us, you can count on us to:
- Explain your legal options
- Investigate your claim
- Gather evidence and identify liable parties
- Calculate your damages
- Work with experts (if necessary)
- Handle negotiations and communications with the insurance company
- Represent you in court to get what’s fair
Contact us today to schedule a free case review with a San Antonio personal injury lawyer. We work on contingency, so you won’t pay any attorney fees unless we recover compensation for you first.
What Are Some Examples of Catastrophic Injuries?
The term “catastrophic injury” can have many definitions. A catastrophic injury might require long-term treatment and therapy. It might cause permanent disabilities. Or it might result in a significant loss of function and even shorten your life expectancy.
Catastrophic injuries can take various forms, including the following:
Vision Loss
Blindness can significantly impair your abilities. You will probably need occupational therapy to read, cook, shop, and navigate your environment. You may need a service animal and other assistive devices. Blindness in just one eye can result in fewer employment opportunities.
Third-Degree Burns
Burns happen when a chemical reaction destroys your body tissue. Burns can result from:
- Hot objects, liquids, and gases
- Caustic chemicals
- Electrical current
- Radiation
- Flames
Burns occur in three degrees. A first-degree burn only affects the upper layer of the skin. A second-degree burn destroys the upper layer and begins to affect the primary layer of the skin. A third-degree burn destroys the full thickness of the skin.
Third-degree burns can cause disfiguring scars, infections, and contractures. You may need surgeries, skin grafts, and long-term care after suffering a large third-degree burn.
Amputation
Doctors amputate a limb when they cannot repair it. This often happens when an accident shatters your bone or destroys the blood vessels in the limb. Amputations incur large medical bills and will keep you out of work for weeks or months.
An amputation causes permanent disability. You may regain some function if you get fitted with a prosthetic device, but a prosthesis will never replace your natural limb.
Traumatic Brain Injury
Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) damage or kill brain cells. Brain cells cooperate to create control signals to operate your muscles and organs. They also receive sensory perceptions from your eyes, ears, nose, tongue, and skin.
Brain damage can cause:
- Amnesia
- Paralysis
- Deafness
- Blindness
- Confusion
- Weakness
- Numbness
- Inability to concentrate
Brain damage is often permanent because brain cells do not regenerate.
Spinal Cord Injury
The spinal cord carries signals between your body and brain. When it gets severed, you suffer permanent paralysis. If some, but not all, of the spinal cord’s nerves get severed, you suffer partial paralysis. Total paralysis will result when all of the spinal cord’s nerves get severed.
How Can a Catastrophic Injury Happen?
Sadly, catastrophic injuries can happen in any accident. Even minor accidents can damage or destroy your limbs, brain, spinal cord, or skin.
Traffic Accidents
Traffic accidents are a leading cause of injuries and deaths in the United States. Crashes involve a lot of energy that can tear tissue, break bones, and rattle your brain.
Truck accidents can produce catastrophic injuries due to the sheer weight of the truck. A fully loaded semi-truck can weigh up to 40 tons. This massive weight can destroy your body.
You are also more vulnerable to catastrophic injuries in traffic accidents where you have little or no protection from the collision. Pedestrian accidents, bicycle accidents, and motorcycle accidents have a higher injury rate than car crashes. These crashes injure victims when the vehicle strikes them and again when they hit the pavement.
Falls
Accidental falls were the top reason for non-fatal injuries in the U.S. in 2020. Falls include falling from an elevated height and slips and falls. The impact after a fall can jostle your brain so severely that it strikes the inside of your skull. A fall can also fracture your vertebrae, producing bone fragments that sever your spinal cord.
Work Accidents
Workplace accidents may involve large vehicles and powerful machinery. Workplace accidents can mangle or sever your limbs. You can also suffer third-degree burns in accidents involving hot objects, explosions, and chemicals.
What Do You Need After A Catastrophic Injury?
You will have extensive needs after a catastrophic injury. Depending on your injury, you may need:
Skilled Nursing
If your injuries leave you in such frail health that you need around-the-clock monitoring and care, you may need skilled nursing. You can get the nursing you need at home or in a residential facility. In either case, the cost will be substantial.
Caretaker
If you do not need medical care but still need help meeting your daily needs, you can hire a caretaker. You can also enter an assisted living facility.
Your caretakers can provide assistance with:
- Feeding
- Dressing
- Showering
- Using the toilet
- Getting into and out of bed
Caretakers will not cost as much as nurses. But you could still pay a lot, depending on your level of need.
Mobility Devices
If your injuries limit your mobility, you may need any of these devices:
- Wheelchair
- Crutches
- Scooter
- Walker
- Cane
You may also need to modify your vehicle or purchase a vehicle with modifications to accommodate your mobility device.
Home Modifications
You may need to modify your home so that you can live safely after your catastrophic injury. Some common modifications include:
- Ramps
- Stair lifts
- Grab bars
- Widened doors
- Lowered counters and sinks
Home modifications can cost a lot of money, particularly when you have extensive needs.
How Can You Get Compensation for a Catastrophic Injury?
You can pursue compensation for catastrophic injuries that resulted from someone else’s actions. The at-fault party bears liability for both economic and non-economic losses. Economic losses cover your financial costs, such as medical expenses and lost income. Non-economic losses cover your pain and suffering.
Catastrophic injuries produce significant losses. Medical care for catastrophic injuries, including long-term therapy, can cost a lot. And catastrophic injuries can diminish your quality of life through mental anguish, pain, disability, dismemberment, and disfigurement.
Contact A San Antonio Catastrophic Injury Attorney Today
You will need significant resources to meet your needs after a catastrophic injury. Contact George Salinas Injury Lawyers to discuss the compensation you can pursue for your catastrophic injury. We’ll use our extensive skills and experience to help maximize the value of your claim. Contact us today or submit an online contact form to schedule your free initial consultation.