Our impressive track record of success for our clients, however, does not guarantee a specific outcome for your burn injury case. Every matter we handle has its own distinct facts and circumstances that affect our clients’ rights. Still, hiring an experienced Solana Beach burn injury attorney from Gomez Trial Attorneys does ensure that a client will have a skilled, experienced attorney working to get them the maximum compensation the law allows.

Common Causes of Solana Beach Severe Burns

People suffer burns when exposed to too much sunlight, heat, radiation, corrosive chemicals, or electricity. The source of a burn partly determines the type of medical treatment the victim receives, and can affect the victim’s long-term prognosis. The American Burn Association estimates close to 500,000 people across the nation receive treatment for a burn injury each year, 40,000 of whom must be hospitalized. Approximately 75 percent must spend time in a burn unit for severe burns. The most common causes of severe burns are:

Scalds

A scald occurs when hot liquid or steam causes a burn. Scalds can happen in a variety of settings. A server can spill hot coffee on a patron in a restaurant; boiling water can splash from a pot on the stove; a faucet in a bathtub may spew high-temperature water; high-pressure steam can escape from a car’s radiator; and so on. Many of these incidents result from someone’s poor decision or dangerous actions. Landlords, restaurant owners, and manufacturers may face liability for scalds.

Fires

Sometimes people purposely start fires and other times fires are accidental. In either case, fires put people at risk of serious injury. Fires emerge from many sources, such as campfires, bonfires, explosive car crashes, unextinguished cigarettes, wildfires, and controlled burns of trash or brush. Flammable liquids and gases such as gasoline, ammonia, propane, butane, and hydrogen greatly intensify the danger associated with fire by posing a risk of accelerating the fire or exploding. Individuals who end up trapped in a building, a vehicle, or a wildfire often suffer catastrophic burns if they cannot escape.

Toxic Chemicals

Many people come in contact with one or more harsh, toxic chemicals every day, whether at home or while at work. Some harsh chemicals have corrosive qualities that cause painful chemical burns when they come in contact with the skin, and they can also cause lung damages. Some examples of common chemicals that corrode the skin include ammonia, battery acid, bleach, chlorine, denture cleaning products, and teeth whitening products.

Medical Treatment

Doctors and other medical professionals use radiation in many beneficial ways. When used improperly, however, radiation can cause internal tissue damage and skin damage. The most common use of radiation is for x-rays and diagnostic imaging like CT scans and MRIs. Radiation therapy is also a frequent treatment for cancerous tumors and sometimes, non-cancerous tumors. Less common uses for radiation therapy include treatments for blood disorders and thyroid disease.

Live Electrical Currents

Electrical currents create several types of potential burn hazards. Poor electrical work and loose electrical wires cause fires. Direct contact with electrical currents leads to electrocution injuries. Young children and toddlers are especially at risk for electrical burns from unprotected wall outlets.

According to the National Institutes of Health, individuals suffer four types of electrical injuries:

• Flash injuries are superficial, mild burns and victims do not have electrical current traveling through their bodies.
• Flame injuries refer to an arc flash throwing a spark and igniting nearby flammable items, especially hair and clothing. Electrical current passes through the skin in some cases.
• Lightning injuries get their name from the short bursts of energy and high voltage found in lightning. People who suffer lightning injuries have electrical current flow through their bodies.
• True injuries occur when a person’s body becomes part of an electrical circuit and electricity flows throughout their body. True injuries most often lead to death.

Financial Impact of Solana Beach Burn Injuries

The economic burden in the wake of a severe injury varies based on the type of injury, but burn injuries typically come near the top of the list for the cost of treatment. Burn injury victims often have to spend weeks or months in a hospital burn unit and likely need one or more surgeries for skin grafts and reconstruction. This creates massive expenses and losses for burn victims and their families. Some of the most devastating financial impacts caused by burn injuries include:

Medical Treatment Costs

Burn injuries often require costly medical treatments, including:

• Ambulance and emergency services
• Hospitalization, often for weeks or months in a burn unit
• One or more surgeries
• Pain medication and other pain management costs
• Diagnostic imaging and lab tests evaluate the extent of burn injuries
• Follow-up doctor visits
• Travel expenses to and from the doctor/hospital

Rehabilitation Expenses

Burn victims who have suffered severe and catastrophic burns sometimes need to spend months or years recovering and rehabilitating, which translates into hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical expenses. Burn victims spend a lot of time in bed, wrapped in bandages during recovery. Once doctors remove bandages, physical therapists typically need to help victims regain mobility and muscle function.

Burn victims with permanent tissue damage sometimes need to spend time with an occupational therapist to learn new and adaptive ways to get through their daily routine. Burn victims also experience emotional trauma, especially when burns cause scarring and disfigurement. For that reason, behavioral therapy with a psychologist or psychiatrist often plays a significant role in the healing process for burn victims.

Lost Wages

Many burn victims and their families lose substantial amounts of income as a result of their injuries. They commonly miss work while recuperating and, potentially, face work limitations in the future because of their injuries. Disability payments may replace some lost income, but it rarely amounts to enough to fill the financial hole a severe burn injury can blow in a victim’s or family’s budget.

Home Modification Costs

Burn injuries that cause permanent tissue damage sometimes require victims to make adjustments to their living spaces, especially if burn injuries have impacted their physical mobility. Home modifications make it possible for those who suffer severe burn injuries to live at home with the help of family or outside care.

Modifications can include major renovations or additions that allow a burn victim to live on one level, if an injury made climbing stairs difficult. Other modifications include constructing a wheelchair ramp, purchasing a hospital-grade bed, installing grab rails and hand bars throughout the home, especially in bathroom and shower areas. Modifications to make a home accessible can range from hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars depending on the victim’s needs.

Replacement Service Costs

Burn injuries can limit a victim’s daily activities, which may result in the victim needing help with some tasks, such as keeping up a house, childcare, or getting around. Family members often chip in and take on extra responsibilities, but some households need outside help to replace the labor the victim previously provided.

For example, if a burn victim stayed home with an infant or young children, families may need to send kids to daycare or hire a nanny instead. Other replacement service costs can include lawn care services, gardening services, swimming pool maintenance, cleaning services, and domestic help around the house to cook, do laundry, grocery shop, and help out with any other tasks or errands.

Long-term Healthcare Expenses

Catastrophic burn injuries that cause permanent damage often force families to place their loved one in a long-term nursing care facility. Unfortunately, most health insurance policies do not cover nursing home expenses. Long-term care can bankrupt a family because of the high costs of nursing homes. The same is true for families who need in-home health care.

How Gomez Trial Attorneys Can Help With Your Solana Beach Burn Injury Case

Solana Beach victims of severe burns caused by someone else’s dangerous decisions and actions have rights to significant compensation. The team at Gomez Trial Attorneys can help them get it.

Here’s how:

• We investigate burn incidents to understand the chain of events that led to the injury, and to evaluate our clients’ financial needs now and in the future. Over the years, our team has gained a thorough understanding of the challenges of recovering from and living with a burn injury. We know where to look to find the parties who should have taken steps to prevent the burn, and to calculate the maximum amount of compensation the law allows a burn injury victim to recover.
• We negotiate with parties who have a legal liability to our clients for their injuries and losses. Oftentimes, that means interacting directly with an insurance company or a defense attorney. We prepare for negotiations thoroughly, to make sure that when we demand money from someone at-fault for our clients’ injuries, we can back up our figures with evidence. Some of our greatest successes for clients have resulted from our skilled navigation of complex settlement negotiations.
• We take cases to trial and get results when a party with liability to our client refuses to settle. Ours is a team of top-notch trial attorneys. We have a reputation as passionate, articulate, determined advocates in the courtroom. If convincing a jury that you deserve compensation for a burn injury is what it takes to get you paid, then we are more than up to the task.

Get the Legal Help You Need From an Experienced Solana Beach Burn Injury Attorney Now

Burn victims and their families face emotional and financial challenges when another person or business makes careless, reckless, or intentionally-harmful choices that lead to a severe burn injury. They deserve compensation for their physical and emotional pain, and for the economic burden inflicted on them through no fault of their own.

The team at Gomez Trial Attorneys works day and night to help our Solana Beach burn injury clients through this difficult time and to enforce their legal rights to receive compensation for the harm they have suffered.

If you, your child, or a loved one suffered burn injuries as a result of someone else’s dangerous decision or actions, and you live or work in the Solana Beach area, contact Gomez Trial Attorneys online or at (619) 237-3490 for a free consultation to discuss your burn injury and the ways it has impacted your life. We understand the financial burden that many burn injury victims face, so we take cases on a contingent fee basis, which means we only receive our legal fees if we recover money on our clients’ behalf.

Do not delay. You may need to act quickly to secure the maximum benefit of your legal rights to receive substantial compensation.

Gomez Trial Attorneys
603 N. Highway 101
Solana Beach, CA 92075
Phone: (858) 400-4333