Catastrophic Injuries Attorney in Atlanta

The term “catastrophic injury” can have varying definitions in different settings. For legal purposes, an injury can be catastrophic if it permanently impairs the use of a body part or impacts your neurological functioning. Catastrophic injuries can often have long-term effects and require extensive and ongoing medical treatment.

One characteristic of many catastrophic injuries is an adverse effect on your abilities. This can involve physical or cognitive impairments, which might impair your ability to continue working at your job or engage in your usual activities. Because of the widespread effect of catastrophic injuries on your life, it is common for losses stemming from these injuries to be overwhelming.

Catastrophic injuries can be difficult to recover from, and this makes it more important than ever to have the right attorney on your side and protecting your rights. Because of the extent of losses from severe injuries, resulting claims can be complex matters, and you want the right Atlanta catastrophic injury lawyer handling your claim from the very start.

Many types of injuries have the potential to alter your life, such as:

• Traumatic brain injury (TBI) – This injury results from head trauma, and it can cause long-term cognitive, physical, and behavioral disabilities.
• Spinal cord injury (SCI) – Your spine delivers messages from your brain to your body, and complete damage to your spinal cord can cut off these messages, resulting in permanent paralysis.
• Burns – Severe burn injuries can be catastrophic, as they can result in permanent disfigurement, amputation, or other impaired use of certain burned areas of the body.
• Amputations – Losing a body part will change your life. Amputations might be traumatic and happen as part of the accident, or they might be surgical following a severe and irreparable crush injury or burn.

If you suffered a life-changing injury, you want the right legal representation moving forward.

Catastrophic injuries occur for many reasons, and they are often the result of accidents or incidents that other parties cause.

Some common causes of catastrophic injuries that might lead to an injury claim are:

• Car accidents – When your vehicle collides with another car or otherwise crashes, it can result in head trauma, spinal injuries, and other lasting injuries.
• Truck accidents – Because large commercial trucks are so much bigger and heavier than passenger vehicles, they have the potential to cause more catastrophic injuries when they crash.
• Motorcycle and bicycle accidents – While motorcyclists and bicyclists might wear helmets, they have very little protection from severe and life-changing injuries if a car hits these vehicles.
• Pedestrian accidents – Pedestrians have even less protection than motorcyclists and bicyclists, as rarely do people wear helmets of any protective gear when walking. This leaves them much more vulnerable to severe injuries in an accident.
• Dog bites – When a dog attacks you, their jaws might tear through your skin and result in amputations of fingers or extremities. Dog attacks can also result in permanent disfigurement and disabilities.
• Falls – Falling often comes with the high risk of hitting your head or back on objects or the ground. This is true whether you fall from a high place or on even ground.
• Medical malpractice and birth injuries – Medical professionals are supposed to take care of patients to improve their conditions, not make errors that lead to catastrophic injuries. Birth injuries, in particular, run the risk of brain or spinal injuries that can impact a person’s lifetime.
• Violence – Assault is a common cause of serious injuries, including blunt force trauma, hitting someone with a vehicle, gunshot or stab wounds, and similar unlawful conduct.

These are far from the only causes of catastrophic injuries, and many situations can lead to injury claims. If you are unsure about your rights after an incident, have a lawyer review your situation and advise you of your options for financial recovery.

The treatment for catastrophic injuries can vary significantly based on the type of injuries suffered. For example, spinal cord injuries require different treatments than traumatic brain injuries do.

That said, some of the potential treatments that victims of catastrophic injuries may receive include:

While the treatments for catastrophic injuries can vary greatly, one thing that victims can safely assume is that they will incur substantial medical expenses in the months and years after their accident. By their very nature, catastrophic injuries result in long-term medical issues, so victims will necessarily incur a lifetime of accident-related losses. For example, according to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, a 25-year-old suffering from high tetraplegia can expect to pay more than $4.7 million in medical expenses throughout their lifetimes. Because of the astronomical costs associated with treating catastrophic injuries, victims must protect their rights by retaining an Atlanta catastrophic injury lawyer as soon as possible.

Catastrophic injuries usually restrict your abilities, whether they are physical or cognitive restrictions. Depending on your line of work, a catastrophic injury can impact your ability to continue in your position.

For example, if your job involves heavy lifting and physical labor, a spinal injury and paralysis can prevent you from working in that job moving forward. If you are a researcher or in academia, cognitive impairments from a brain injury might cause you to resign. If you are a surgeon or an artist, you might not use your hands in a controlled manner due to a catastrophic injury. All of these situations can be devastating, both financially and emotionally.

If you are in school pursuing a specific career path, a catastrophic injury might derail your plans. If you lose significant future earnings because of an injury, seek recovery for the earning power you lost. Having to leave a career you enjoyed can also lead to mental suffering, which is a compensable loss.

While having your career disrupted can be devastating, so can the effects of a catastrophic injury on your personal relationships and life. Some people might have more difficulty maintaining romantic relationships due to a severe disability.

Others might not participate in activities they once loved, such as:

Losing relationships or beloved activities can have a serious effect on your psyche and might contribute to depression and other mental suffering.

As mentioned, catastrophic injuries can affect almost every aspect of your life, and these effects can be long-lasting or permanent. This means that you might experience losses for your lifetime, and these losses can be overwhelmingly costly. Learn about your rights from the right attorney so you can recover for your losses.

Each claim is different, and each person will experience different losses due to catastrophic injuries. Some losses might include:

• Medical bills for treatment you already received
• The estimated expenses for the ongoing medical care you will need moving forward
• Wages you lost from missing work so far
• Future lost earnings
• Physical and mental pain and suffering
• Loss of enjoyment of life
• Loss of consortium
• Permanent disabilities, disfigurement, or impairments

In addition, if your catastrophic injuries resulted from willful conduct or gross negligence, you might receive punitive damages. These damages do not stem from your losses, but instead punish the wrongdoer. If you can obtain punitive damages, it can increase the value of your claim substantially.

Calculating damages – especially damages based on intangible losses – can be a complicated matter. You want a trusted catastrophic injury attorney to determine the value of your claim.

Just because you sustained a severe injury and experienced extensive losses does not necessarily mean that you have the right to receive compensation. To qualify for an injury claim, you need to demonstrate that another party was negligent and responsible for causing your injuries.

Liable parties can be:

• Drivers
• Other negligent individuals
• Companies that employ negligent individuals
• Companies that engage in negligent hiring, supervision, or vehicle maintenance
• Businesses that allow hazards on the premises
• Medical professionals
• Manufacturers that sell defective pharmaceuticals or products

In many instances, more than one party can be liable, such as a driver on the job and the driver’s employer. Your lawyer can identify all liable parties and prepare claims to file with the necessary insurance companies.

Insurance companies are notorious for challenging liability to avoid paying out on claims. This is only one way that insurers minimize payment. You need legal assistance so you can provide sufficient evidence of liability to have the right to seek compensation for all of your injury-related losses.

In general, you must prove that:

• A party owed you a duty of care
• The party breached its duty
• The breach caused the accident
• You suffered injuries and losses as a result

This might seem fairly straightforward, but proving injury claims is more complicated than you might imagine. Do not risk losing the compensation you deserve. Contact an Atlanta catastrophic injury attorney right away.

Yes. It’s highly advisable for anyone that has suffered a catastrophic injury in a preventable accident to retain an attorney as soon as possible. Catastrophic injury cases often involve significant sums of money, and it’s not unusual for settlements to involve hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

Insurance companies will do everything they can to settle catastrophic injury cases for as little as possible, and the representation of an experienced lawyer can ensure that your rights are protected and that you receive the full and fair value of your claim.

Some of the specific ways that an attorney can help you after a catastrophic injury include:

• Determining whether you have a claim
• Identifying all potentially liable parties
• Evaluating your current and future accident-related losses
• Drafting a demand letter and submitting your claim
• Attempting to negotiate a settlement agreement with the insurance company or at-fault party
• Filing a lawsuit on your behalf
• Representing you in court

As a victim, it’s important to keep in mind that insurance companies are in the business of turning a profit, and they do so in part by paying out as little as they can on every claim they receive. In addition, they handle claims every day and know how to pressure victims into accepting less than their cases are actually worth.

The best way to protect yourself after a catastrophic injury is to retain an experienced lawyer with a track record of success representing severely injured accident victims.

Yes.

After starting your medical treatment, you might already be facing a pile of medical bills and might have been out of work for a while. The last thing you might want to think about is spending money to hire an attorney regarding a possible case. In fact, too many people in this situation fail to speak with legal counsel because they do not think they can afford to do so.

The good news is that hiring a catastrophic injury lawyer costs nothing out of pocket since injury lawyers work on a contingency fee basis.

This means:

• Consultations and case evaluations are completely free
• You do not pay a retainer or hourly fees
• If you do not recover compensation, you pay no lawyer’s fees at all
• If you receive a settlement or award, the lawyer’s fees will come from your compensation
• Your lawyer will receive a predetermined percentage of your financial recovery

Because you need no money upfront—or anything out of pocket at all – you can certainly afford to hire an experienced Atlanta catastrophic injury attorney.