Burn injuries can be devastating for victims both physically and psychologically. The physical injury itself can be extremely painful and can take months or years to heal. Some victims of severe burn injuries can be left with disfiguring scars after a long recovery, which will impact them for the rest of their lives.
If you or a loved one has been the victim of a burn injury due to someone else’s negligence, a New Jersey personal injury lawyer from Rand Spear – The Accident Lawyer is here to help you fight for the compensation you deserve. Contact our office to speak with an experienced New Jersey burn injury lawyer and get started today.
A Quick Look at Burn Injury Statistics
Burn injuries occur often in the United States. The American Burn Association reports that 73% of burn injuries happen at home, while others occur on the street or highway in accidents, in sports, and at the workplace. Here is a quick look at some of their yearly statistics reported:
- 486,000 people receive treatment for burn injuries per year
- 40,000 people are hospitalized due to burn injuries per year
- 3,275 people die from burn-related injuries per year
If you or a loved one sustained a burn injury due to negligence, consider pursuing legal action. Burn injuries happen in a variety of situations, and your legal recourse will depend greatly on the type you sustained. A New Jersey burn injury attorney can help you investigate the specifics of your unique case and determine whether you are eligible for compensation.
Types of Burn Injuries
A burn is the result of energy transferring to the body. Energy transfers back and forth from the body to surfaces often, but burns happen when an excessive amount is transferred at once. According to Stanford Health, there are four main types of burns that occur due to chemical, radiation, thermal, or electrical contact.
- Chemical Burns: Caused by the skin coming into direct contact with chemicals such as strong solvents, acids, or alkalies. Burns can sometimes take hours to develop.
- Radiation Burns: Caused by exposure to radiation from machines like X-rays or prolonged time in the sun. Radiation burns caused by negligence often occur in the hospital during medical testing procedures.
- Thermal Burns: Caused by touching or being in proximity to a heat source such as a fire, hot liquids, steam, or surfaces with extreme temperature. Thermal burns cause cell death within the skin tissue and often lead to scarring.
- Electrical Burns: Caused by coming into contact with electrical currents such as alternating current (AC), which is in most homes, or direct current (DC). Electrical burns are often fatal.
No matter what type of burn injury you sustained, it is important to immediately seek medical attention to assess your situation. Some injuries may not initially seem severe but develop worsening symptoms as the burn continues to do damage. Medical professionals will take note of the severity of your injuries and give you a plan for recovery.
Recovering from Burn Injuries
Recovery can take anywhere from weeks to years to heal, depending on the severity of your burns. It is important to get medical attention immediately after your accident to begin recovery but also establish proper documentation for your case.
Burned skin often feels tight and hard during the healing process. While it can be painful, continuing to move is important to prevent permanent stiffness or loss of motion in the area due to scarring. Always listen to the advice of your medical professionals during recovery to ensure the best possible healing and to possibly prevent bad scarring.
New Jersey Burn Injury Lawyer Near Me (215) 985-2424
Common Causes of Burn Injuries
Burn injuries due to negligence happen more than we would like to think and often inside the home. Common causes can include negligence from companies pushing dangerous products to market before they have been safely tested, such as home appliances, electric blankets, power tools, curling irons, and flammable clothing. Other types of burn injuries include:
- Car and truck accidents
- Faulty wiring and other electrical issues
- Defective appliances, furnaces, grills, or space heaters
- Explosions and gas leaks
- Missing or defective smoke detectors
- Flammable clothing or materials
- Chemical burns
- Liquid burns at a restaurant
- Poorly designed or nonexistent emergency exits
Did a stingy landlord fail to install the proper smoke alarms and emergency exits that kept you from being alerted to a fire in your apartment building? Or, were you injured due to a corporation pushing a product to market too soon before safety testing was completed? Establishing the cause of your burn injury is important in the process of determining who is liable.
Determining Liability and Proving Fault
A burn injury lawyer in New Jersey can help you conduct an independent investigation of your case to determine liability and establish fault. We do this by first evaluating all available evidence, such as a police or workplace incident report, witness testimony, medical documentation, footage from surveillance cameras, and any photos from the scene. Rand Spear personal injury attorneys are experienced in handling cases where negligence has caused burn injuries and know what to look for when establishing fault.
Negligence and fault are proven through an established link between the breach of duty or care and your burn injury. Your burn injury attorney in New Jersey will work to establish that the at-fault party had a legal requirement to act with care to prevent your injury, and thus, their reckless behavior or intentional actions caused your injury. Based on that, they can establish your claim and prepare a settlement request based on your damages.
Recovering from a burn injury can create a substantial financial burden, and victims can be entitled to significant compensation. Your New Jersey burn injury lawyer will look to calculate your losses and rightful compensation based on medical bills, lost wages, physical losses, and non-economic losses such as pain and suffering. This includes cases of long-term recovery, psychological effects of disfiguring scarring, and potential reconstructive and cosmetic surgeries.
Contact Us Today for a Free Consultation with Our Burn Injury Attorneys in New Jersey
Our New Jersey burn injury lawyers know how difficult this time is for victims of burn injuries and empathize with your situation. We want to take the burden off of you so you can focus on recovery. At Rand Spear, our New Jersey burn injury attorneys work diligently to establish your case and see it through to settlement.
We treat every client like family and will not settle for less than what you deserve. Contact our office to get expert legal counsel and begin preparing your case. Schedule your free consultation today.
Call or text (215) 985-2424 or complete a Free Case Evaluation form
