From intense pain to permanent scarring, burn injuries can cause serious, body-wide problems. When these problems prevent you from working or living as you did before your injury-causing accident, your burn injury may justify a catastrophic injury lawsuit. While no settlement or verdict can change what happened, compensation can help keep you comfortable as you recover from and adapt to your injuries. Our team at Mama Justice – MW Law Firm can help you pursue the resources you need to recover. All you have to do is give us a call at (888) 484-1476 today.

Understanding Burn Injuries

According to the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS): “A burn is tissue damage caused by heat, chemicals, electricity, sunlight, or nuclear radiation…Burns are defined by how deep they are and how large an area they cover.” Most people are familiar with the degrees of burns:

• A first-degree burn damages only the outer layer of skin
• Second-degree burns damage the outer layer and the layer underneath
• Third-degree burns damage or destroy the deepest layer of skin and tissues underneath

The NIGMS also acknowledges fourth, fifth, and sixth-degree burns. Fourth-degree burns extend into fat, fifth-degree burns extend into muscle, and sixth-degree burns extend to bone. Clinicians use total body surface area (TBSA) to determine the percentage of the body that is burned and estimate the size and severity of burns. Second- or third-degree burns that cover 9% of the body or more may be considered catastrophic. Individuals with severe burns may need skin grafts, or natural or artificial skin that covers and protects the body while it heals, and all serious burns are prone to infection. Additionally, severe burns trigger an explosive inflammatory response, which may cause shock (a sharp and potentially deadly drop in blood pressure) or swelling known as edema. Both of these conditions can cause tissues and organs to be deprived of oxygen, suffer damage, and fail. Burn survivors frequently face complications in their lungs, heart, brain, bloodstream, and kidneys. Severe burn injuries used to be fatal for many victims, but now, people can survive burns covering up to 90% of their bodies. Still, burn survivors must live with and learn to adapt to permanent impairments and scars.