What Is a Catastrophic Injury?

When a personal injury occurs, it is because the reckless or careless behavior of a person or an organization caused an accident to happen to someone. The behavior of the party that caused the accident is referred to as negligent and could result in serious consequences for the victim. The victim’s injury could cause them to miss work, resulting in lost wages, which is bad because they could have expenses caused by the accident. Those expenses could include medical bills, repair bills, and more.

When a person suffers a personal injury, they are entitled to compensation from the party responsible for the accident. Most personal injuries heal over time, allowing the victim to return to their normal life; however, some injuries are so serious that the victim’s life is permanently altered. These are called catastrophic injuries. When they happen, the legal experts at Maho | Prentice, LLP Attorneys at Law strongly recommend that the victim retain a personal injury attorney as soon as possible. The victim will require substantial compensation to cover the expenses caused by their catastrophic injury, and the attorney gives them the best chance of getting maximum compensation.

Catastrophic Injury Explained

A catastrophic injury is one that permanently changes the victim’s life. These generally include injuries to the brain or spine, but there can be others. The main thing catastrophic injuries have in common is that the victim is never the same after the injury. The following are some of the different types of catastrophic injury:

• Spinal Cord Injury – If the spinal cord gets severed, it could leave the victim with paraplegia or quadriplegia.
• Traumatic Brain Injury – TBI can cause cognitive, memory, and emotional problems in people affected by them.
• Amputation – In especially severe accidents, the victim could end up losing a limb. They could lose a limb in the accident, or the limb has to be removed to save their life.
• Sensory Loss – The victim could lose their sight or hearing because of a catastrophic injury.
• Nerve Damage – Severe nerve damage could result in ongoing pain and uncomfortable sensation in the victim. It could also have the opposite effect and leave parts of the body permanently numb.
• Scarring – Severe burns or deep lacerations could cause permanent scarring that cannot be fixed with surgery.

Causes of Catastrophic Injury

It is usually a devastating accident that causes catastrophic injuries. Some examples of accidents that could lead to a catastrophic injury include the following:

• Car Accidents – Most car accidents are relatively minor and result in recoverable injuries. However, more serious crashes like head-on collisions, multi-car pileups, or side-impact collisions can cause serious injuries to the vehicle’s occupants.
• Motorcycle Accidents – Motorcycle riders don’t have the protection that drivers do, so when they get into an accident, it always has the potential to result in catastrophic injuries.
• Truck Accidents – Trucks outweigh other vehicles by several thousand pounds; so, if a truck collides with another vehicle, the occupants of that vehicle could suffer severe injuries.
• Bicycle Accidents – If any vehicle hits a bicycle, it could cause injury to the cyclist. Cyclists are also in danger if someone in a parked vehicle opens their door in front of the rider.
• Pedestrian Accidents – If a vehicle traveling at even a moderate rate of speed hits a pedestrian, they could be severely injured.
• Medical Malpractice – There are many kinds of malpractice that could permanently hurt the victim, such as surgical errors, childbirth errors, and anesthesia errors.

Contact an Attorney After a Catastrophic Injury

The victim of a catastrophic injury will have to make drastic changes to their life. Those changes could include prosthetic limbs, medical equipment, the installation of wheelchair ramps, and more. Those changes can be expensive, which is why the victim will need compensation to pay for them. A personal injury will give the accident victim the best chance of getting the compensation they deserve to help make all the necessary adjustments to their life.