Has an accident injured you so badly that you become disabled, unable to care for your family, go to work, or even tend to your own personal care? In that case, you may feel a sense of injustice that another person’s careless actions led to this.

Your recourse to seek justice and compensation for all you’ve lost is the legal system, and our Duluth catastrophic injuries lawyers can guide you through it. Our firm can assess your case and seek fair compensation from the party that caused the accident. Contact us today for a free consultation with a skilled litigator.

What Is Considered a Catastrophic Injury?

Catastrophic injuries are serious, life-changing injuries that render the victim disabled or leave them with permanent physical changes. Many catastrophic injuries result from an accident, like a car wreck, medical malpractice, or a construction site accident. The bodily harm is serious, and often, victims cannot fully recover or regain their pre-injury physical abilities.

If you suffer a catastrophic injury, your quality of life and future are irrevocably altered. For example, you may have extensive burn scarring, need an amputation, or suffer spinal cord damage that leaves you partly or totally paralyzed.

Many people who suffer catastrophic injuries may need help living independently and require services from a home health aide or personal caregiver. Others may require accommodation in a skilled nursing facility or memory care home. Loved ones may be thrust into the role of caregiver, changing the family dynamic and impacting relationships. 

Types of Catastrophic Injuries

Some common types of catastrophic injuries include:

  • Vision or hearing loss
  • A bruised or severed spinal cord that results in paralysis
  • Limb amputation
  • Scarring or disfigurement
  • Burn scars or skin damage
  • Neurological and nerve damage
  • Brain damage from a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or severe concussion
  • Internal bleeding that leads to life-threatening sepsis 
  • Internal organ damage that results in having one partly or totally removed
  • Cancer or other chronic illness from toxic exposure or occupational disease

If your specific injury is not on this list, it could still be considered catastrophic. The injury may be classified as catastrophic if it impacts your ability to work, care for your family, or live independently. If the injury is permanent or the disease is long-lasting or progressive, you could file a lawsuit to seek the money you need for long-term treatment and care. 

Common Causes of Catastrophic Injuries

Some common accidents that cause catastrophic injury include:

  • Car, truck, or motorcycle accidents
  • Drunk driving crashes
  • Accidental overdose or accidental poisoning
  • Construction site accidents
  • Toxic exposure in the workplace
  • Injury from a defective consumer product or toxic exposure from contaminated consumer goods
  • Slip-and-falls or falling from heights
  • Birth injuries to mother or baby
  • Medical misdiagnosis or malpractice
  • Dog mauling

Catastrophic injuries affect thousands of people and their families each year. Nearly 6 percent of adults suffered a mobility-limiting injury in a recent three-month period, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC also noted that in a recent year, over 214,000 people were hospitalized for a TBI. 

How Do Doctors Treat Catastrophic Injuries?

Stabilizing their patient is often the first step in a doctor’s treatment of a catastrophic injury. They may order multiple types of scans and tests to determine the location and extent of the injury, like an MRI, CT scan, X-ray, and bloodwork. Fast, accurate medical care and diagnosis can often make a life-or-death difference for the victim, but even then, recovery may be impossible.

Beyond that, treatment for catastrophic injuries often depends on the type of injury and its severity. For example, you may need:

  • Skin grafts for burn injuries or surgery to repair second, third, or fourth-degree burns. This may be a multiple-phase treatment, with multiple surgeries and months of painful recovery.
  • Surgery to repair a compound fracture, such as placing a metal rod in a broken femur, or surgery to repair the tissue damage that the compound fracture caused.
  • Reconstructive surgery for facial disfigurement or severe tissue damage.
  • Chemotherapy, if you developed cancer because of exposure to toxic substances.
  • Memory care therapies to slow cognitive decline triggered by a TBI. Serious TBIs could leave someone with little control over their faculties or incapable of living independently again.
  • Surgery to fuse herniated discs or repair a damaged spine.

Some treatments for catastrophic injury include rehabilitative therapy to learn to use a prosthesis or being fitted for hearing aids after permanent hearing loss. Many people may require multiple physical, speech, or occupational therapy sessions. The costs for specialized care can reach tens of thousands or more, especially if someone requires care in a nursing home (semi-private room costs averaged $7,908 per month in one recent year).

What Damages Can You Recover in a Catastrophic Injury Lawsuit?

You have the right to file a personal injury lawsuit after someone else’s wrongdoing led to an accident that caused your injury. You can seek compensation for losses from the person or entity responsible for the incident. You may recover money for tangible or economic losses and intangible or non-economic losses.

Economic compensation you may pursue includes:

  • All your medical costs, from an emergency room visit to a hospital stay, medications, specialist care, and surgery
  • Rehabilitative therapy, like physical, occupational, and speech therapy, or therapy to learn to use a prosthesis
  • Lost wages from work time you missed to recover
  • Reduced earning capacity, as you may be unable to remain in the same job or line of work you held before the accident
  • Vocational re-training to help you develop skills or get an education to seek gainful employment that you can perform with your changed abilities

Your non-economic compensation can include consideration for your:

  • Diminished quality of life and loss of enjoyment of activities you used to do
  • Loss of companionship and consortium, or damaged relationships with a spouse or significant other
  • Pain and suffering from your injuries
  • Emotional trauma and mental anguish, or money for treatment due to the onset of depression, anxiety, PTSD, or other mental illness after the accident or triggered by your changed appearance and abilities

Because a catastrophic injury accident is so severe, your Duluth catastrophic injury law firm may also seek punitive damages. Punitive damages for the plaintiff (Georgia Code 51-12-5.1) can be awarded if a jury determines that the defendant’s actions were willful, malicious, wanton, or showed deliberate disregard for the safety of others. In most instances, there is a $250,000 cap on punitive damages in Georgia, and 75 percent of any punitive damages awarded will be paid into the state treasury. Your attorney can advise whether you might be entitled to pursue punitive damages in your case. 

Who Might Be Liable for Catastrophic Injuries?

The liable party in a catastrophic injury suit is the person or entity (like a healthcare facility or consumer manufacturing company) responsible for causing the accident or toxic exposure.

Parties that may be at fault in a catastrophic injury case include:

  • A doctor, in cases of medical malpractice
  • The healthcare facility where the malpractice occurred
  • A consumer products manufacturer, if a defective or contaminated consumer product injured you
  • The designer of a consumer product, if the design was fundamentally flawed
  • Another driver, if you were injured in a traffic collision
  • A semi-truck driver or their employer
  • A general contractor or a subcontractor, if you were injured at a construction site
  • A municipality responsible for ensuring that the premises are safe for visitors if you fall at a government facility
  • A property owner, if you were injured due to unsafe conditions on their property
  • The owner of a dog that bit you

Some catastrophic injury suits may have multiple defendants. If your Duluth catastrophic injury attorney determines that more than one party is responsible for your injuries, then they may file lawsuits against numerous defendants.

Statute of Limitations to File a Catastrophic Injury Lawsuit

A legal statute of limitations for a catastrophic injury case is the deadline to file your lawsuit. In Georgia, you have two years from the accident date to file a lawsuit against the at-fault party or forfeit your right to sue.

Contact the Duluth Catastrophic Injury Lawyers at Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC

Is your life forever changed after suffering a catastrophic injury in an accident? Are you worried about how you’ll provide for your family or live independently after a life-changing disability? The Duluth catastrophic injury attorneys at Brauns Law Accident Injury Lawyers, PC, can help you demand the fair compensation you deserve. We’ll pursue all the money you need to cover your immediate medical care, ongoing treatment, personal care, or accommodations in a skilled nursing facility to help you recover. Contact us today for a free consultation.