High-degree burns are painful injuries that may have lasting physical, emotional, and financial consequences. On top of emergency medical bills and other short-term losses, a severe burn injury will likely have long-term effects on your life. These losses may include lost working ability, physical pain, disfigurement, and various forms of psychological distress. If someone else’s actions led to these consequences, they should be responsible for providing compensation.
Filing suit is not something you should try to do without assistance from a skilled catastrophic injury attorney. A dedicated Orangeburg burn injury lawyer could work tenaciously to build the strongest possible on your behalf, ensuring you are paid fairly for the harm you should never have sustained.
Degrees of Burn Injuries
Burn injuries are measured in different degrees. The recoverable damages available to a plaintiff pursuing civil litigation may change depending on the severity of their injuries.
First-Degree
First-degree burns impact the outermost skin layer and typically heal on their own without professional medical care. While these burn injuries are often not severe enough to justify civil litigation, an Orangeburg burn injury attorney could potentially pursue compensation over first-degree burns that cover a substantial portion of the body or affect sensitive areas like the face or hands.
Second-Degree
Second-degree burns are almost always serious enough to require professional medical attention. These burns cause damage to multiple skin layers, which may result in permanent scarring. These kinds of burns can also directly damage the nerve endings under the skin, making them exceptionally painful throughout the healing process.
Third-Degree
Third-degree burns are always extremely serious injuries that require immediate emergency care. These wounds penetrate every layer of the skin and damage the underlying tissues like tendons, muscles, and sometimes even bone. Intensive skin grafting surgery may be necessary to mitigate the long-term damage caused by third-degree burns. Widespread injuries of this severity can be fatal even with prompt medical care, and survivors should always consider their options for financial recovery and legal accountability.
Potential Obstacles to Full Recovery
Despite how serious high-degree burns can be, not every burn will serve as a basis for civil recovery. Someone filing suit over a burn injury must demonstrate how another person’s negligence was responsible for causing the accident or conditions leading to the burn. Courts will evaluate the actions of everyone involved in an accident and assign fault accordingly. If courts assign partial fault to a plaintiff, they may reduce the final damage award by this proportion. Any person who holds a majority of the total fault for their own injury is prohibited from receiving any civil compensation.
Even if someone else is clearly 100 percent to blame for causing a plaintiff’s serious burn injuries, South Carolina Code of Laws § 15-3-530 typically allows plaintiffs just three years to begin any lawsuit they intend to file over their injury. Support from a capable lawyer in Orangeburg could be vital to constructing a strong and comprehensive claim demonstrating someone’s negligence for a burn injury within this deceptively small window of time.
Contact an Orangeburg Burn Injury Attorney Today
Whether an auto accident, uncontrolled fire, or chemical exposure causes your injuries, a severe burn can be extremely painful and exceptionally harmful to your physical health and personal finances. When you experience this type of injury due to someone else’s negligence, you should take legal action to protect your rights and best interests.
An Orangeburg burn injury lawyer at Whetstone Perkins & Fulda could provide the custom-tailored support you need to achieve the financial restitution you deserve. Call today to learn more.
