The Lifelong Costs of a Catastrophic Burn Injury

The consequences of a severe burn injury can be far-reaching, impacting so many aspects of your life, making them truly catastrophic. The costs one of these injuries can have on your life could be immense, and often go far beyond what you would normally expect or think about. This means you should not hesitate to speak with a Fort Worth personal injury attorney as soon as possible to get assistance with your claim if you or a loved one has suffered one of these injuries. An attorney better-understands and can work with you to determine the true, lifelong costs of one of these injuries to make sure the pain is minimized for everyone involved. Let’s take a look at some of the major costs associated with a burn injury, including some of the ones you may not have anticipated.

Medical Expenses

The cost most everybody immediately thinks of when discussing a burn injury is the large stack of medical bills that often immediately follows. Burn injuries require a lot of medical care to be administered quickly in order to minimize the damage and alleviate the extreme pain they can put someone through. In severe cases, burn injuries require some form of surgery—whether it’s general reconstructive surgery or plastic surgery to repair damaged skin and mend your appearance.

Surgeries and pain relief for burn injuries often require an abundant amount of anesthesiology, and other critical care treatments can all make medical bills add up to thousands of dollars fairly quickly. While your own medical insurance should cover a fair amount of this, you may still be forced to pay a high deductible, and there’s a chance your own coverage may not be enough.

Lost Income

When you suffer a burn injury, your recovery will likely not be a fast one. You’ll spend weeks or even months healing before you can return to work, and even then you may not be able to do so in the same capacity as before. This means you will likely miss out on a lot of income, and when you aren’t able to provide for your loved ones, everyone in your family feels the pain.

When you are injured as a result of your job, you might be able to file a workers’ compensation claim, which means you could possibly start receiving lost income benefits quickly. However, those injured in other ways may struggle with obtaining this income. It’s highly advised you let an attorney handle your case as soon as possible, as they’ll work quickly to help you start receiving lost income replacement and alleviate your financial strain quickly.

Rehabilitation

Burn injuries are not always easy to walk away from. In fact, it’s not uncommon for those who suffer major damage to their arms or legs to need to undergo significant rehabilitation in order to gain their abilities back. If you are forced to recover in a hospital bed for several days or even weeks, or you need to undergo major surgery to repair a part of your body, you’ll probably have to re-train it to function properly (or as close to normal as possible).

Some burn victims may need additional equipment to help them recover, including possibly needing crutches, a wheelchair, or a prosthetic limb in order to continue to live properly. These devices are not cheap, and their cost could be an immense burden for those with limited resources.

Psychological Costs

There are further costs to a burn injury that may not necessarily be quantifiable by using a dollar amount. While you can add up the costs of your medical bills and other expenditures related to your injury, it’s much more difficult to put a price tag on the pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of consortium, and other damages you could suffer from your injury.

Spouses are often hit hard when their loved one suffers a burn injury. Not only does their source of financial income become jeopardized, but some spouses also find themselves becoming distanced. Emotional distress causes major changes in people, and sometimes relationships that seemed unbreakable start falling apart when a major life change like an injury gets in the way.

An attorney can help you determine the nature of these costs and work with you to obtain compensation for these damages as well as your medical, rehabilitation, and treatment expenses.