How Can A Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Help – A Brief Guide
The law on personal injury is a matter of comparative fault where the plaintiff is required to prove that any negligence of his is 50% or less. This means you need an attorney to know whether your case is worth it. The lawyer will guide you about what can and cannot be settled – and – whether they are going to go to trial.
With the help of a professional attorney, you can hire other professionals to determine your future medical needs – if you have experienced a catastrophic injury. Your medical needs will be included in your claim.
What Is a Catastrophic Injury?
From a legal viewpoint, a catastrophic injury can get the victim higher compensation compared to a common personal injury case. While still technically personal injuries, catastrophic injuries fall into the higher category of pain, suffering, and damages.
Typically, people who have sustained catastrophic injuries can experience the following:
- A need for lifetime care and accommodations.
- Permanently disabled.
- Severely scarred.
- Severely deformed.
- Severely disfigured.
- Incapability to continue their job.
The underlying reason why catastrophically injured people get additional compensation compared to common personal injury cases is that a catastrophically injured person suffers more, which means they will also require more money to compensate for pain, suffering, medical bills, lost wages, and other damages.
What Are Some Common Examples of Catastrophic Injuries?
Some injuries – despite their intensity – don’t fall into the category of catastrophic injuries. For instance, if you work at a construction site and you fall, which results in breaking your arm. Despite the fact that a broken arm is painful, it is not considered a catastrophic injury, as a broken arm can heal well.
Comparatively, suppose you have had a bad accident at a construction site, and you sustain an injury that you are less likely to recover from. In that case, you have experienced a catastrophic injury. Here are some examples of catastrophic injuries that the affected person is rarely able to recover from:
- Brain damage
- Comatose
- Eye injury – blindness
- Scars on the face and body
- Injuries causing sexual dysfunction
- Amputation of limbs
If you sustain a catastrophic injury, your best step is to contact a catastrophic injury lawyer, such as the winning trial lawyer Matthew Sharp, who knows how to handle complex catastrophic injury cases and develop practical yet innovative solutions to unmanageable problems that are often a part of such claims.
What To Do When You Experience a Catastrophic Injury at Your Workplace?
Now, the thing about injuries and accidents is that they can happen at any time and anywhere – including your workplace. However, if a catastrophic injury occurs at one’s workplace, it can be one of the most difficult cases to prove.
On that note, if you do get injured at your workplace, the first thing you should do is call the ambulance, as the relationship between the catastrophic injury and your workplace has to be established first.
Also, you need to have enough evidence to support your claim that you have been employed in the respective line of work that led to your disability. For instance, if you work as a software developer or programmer, working your hours for a long period.
And over the period of your employment, you have developed a disability in your hand that has affected your ability to type. If you make such a claim, you should prepare solid grounds to support your claim so that it can be recognized as a higher claim than the common personal injury claim.
Remember – a catastrophic injury claim demands higher compensation than a standard personal injury claim.
Common Examples of Workplace Catastrophic Injury Claims
Here are some of the common instances that are related to workplace catastrophic injury claims:
- Defective product that your employer gave you, which scarred your face.
- Pharmacist error that leads to an irreversible illness.
- Workplace accidents that caused lifetime disability or paralysis.
The Importance of Hiring a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer
You should know why you should opt for a catastrophic injury lawyer instead of a personal injury lawyer. The truth is that if you get injured and the injury is severe – yet – you file a personal injury claim, you do yourself no favor as you are only limiting the potential compensation that you can receive.
Many states that award damages for personal injury cases tend to have caps, which means that they will only pay you a limited amount for your pain and suffering. Now, when it comes to catastrophic injury cases, the damages are severe, and most involve lifetime disabilities.
This aspect perfectly explains why catastrophic injury cases are expected of damage caps.
Ask Yourself the Important Question
If you have been seriously injured, you will want to ask yourself how things look in the bigger picture of life and how much money you will be spending for the rest of your life. For instance, if you are twenty years old and you have sustained a serious injury that is sure to affect you for the rest of your life.
In this case, you should ask yourself how you will be able to bear and pay for the medical bills and healthcare for the next five decades or so that you will be alive. The thing about medical care costs is that these costs can add up fast.
Your best solution is to get a lawyer on your side and get a catastrophic injury settlement to ensure that you can cover all of your short-term and long-term expenses.
When to Contact a Catastrophic Injury Attorney?
Ideally, you should get in touch with a catastrophic injury lawyer right after the incident. If you cannot contact a catastrophic injury lawyer yourself, you might ask your friend or family to do the needful for you.
The attorney will take the responsibility of protecting your rights from the very start while guiding you thoroughly through the initial phase of medical care and collecting and preserving evidence that will be used in court later.
Keep in mind that the full extent of your injury might not be visible from the very beginning – but – having an attorney by your side can prove highly invaluable.
