Assessing Damages In Serious Burn Injury Cases

Unfortunately, in the normal course of our law practice, we have encountered clients who have sustained serious burn injuries. These cases are always extremely painful for clients and oftentimes results in permanent disfigurement. Indeed, a burn injury is one of the most painful injuries anyone can sustain and unfortunately we have seen them arise in a variety of contexts, whether it be gasoline fires after automobile accidents, accidents within the home due to defective products and/or chemical burns sustained on the job.
One of the complications of burn injury cases is trying to make sure that one has an accurate assessment of the future. While plastic surgery at present can eliminate some of the acute signs of injury, many times plastic surgery will be needed in the future. Oftentimes, despite the best care of plastic surgeons, permanent disfigurement may remain.
In assessing damages in a serious burn injury case, counsel must confer with the plastic surgeons responsible for the care and treatment of the client/patient to make sure that the client’s prognosis is well understood. The degree of permanent disfigurement, obviously, must be taken into consideration in assessing the damages for such clients as well as the impact on their overall quality of life and, usually, the high amount of medical expenses involved.
One of the very interesting parts of handling such cases is seeing the strength and character of those unfortunate enough to sustain such injuries. We have witnessed many serious injury clients handle themselves with grace, fortitude and strength of character when faced with a serious injury. Remarkably, many of these people are extremely courageous and show tremendous depth of character when overcoming such difficulties. It is a pleasure to help such clients in such difficult circumstances.