What Is a Catastrophic Injury Claim? Spinal Cord, Burns, and Amputation

A catastrophic injury causes severe disability that affects a person’s ability to perform basic daily activities, such as moving around, feeding themselves, and dressing. Spinal cord injuries, brain trauma, severe burns, and amputations are types of catastrophic injuries. Injury victims can file a personal injury claim for damages, which include the costs of future care, rehabilitation, and home modifications.

Damages for long-term life care planning generally rely on expert testimony to estimate future care costs. To learn whether you qualify for a catastrophic injury claim, talk to a local personal injury attorney.

What Is a Catastrophic Injury?

A catastrophic injury is an injury that causes severe disability and makes it difficult to perform daily activities. Catastrophic injuries generally include permanent physical damage, including traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, paralysis, amputation, blindness, or severe burn injuries. The lifetime costs of a severe catastrophic injury can amount to millions of dollars.

Catastrophic injuries are more severe than standard personal injury claims. Most injury claims involve temporary injuries, in which the injury victim fully recovers after treatment. However, even with continuing treatment, patients do not fully recover from catastrophic injuries. They may reach maximum medical improvement (MMI), when the injury stabilizes and continued treatment no longer improves it.

The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) considers a veteran to be catastrophically disabled if they have a severely disabling injury, disorder, or illness that permanently impacts their ability to perform activities of daily living. The disabling condition must be so severe that the individual requires assistance to leave the home or bed, or needs constant supervision to avoid physical harm.

Limited Activities of Daily Living

Catastrophic injuries impact your ability to perform activities of daily living (ADL). ADLs are common tasks most people do every day to stay healthy and alive. Basic activities of daily living include:

• Bathing
• Personal hygiene
• Using the toilet
• Dressing
• Eating and drinking
• Moving around

When a severe injury makes it difficult or impossible to perform one or more of these duties without physical or medical assistance, you may qualify as having a catastrophic injury. In a personal injury claim, the compensation for catastrophic injuries can be much higher than with other injuries.

Catastrophic injuries result in permanent disability and may require daily assistance and medical care for the rest of the injury victim’s life.

Common Causes of Catastrophic Injury Claims

Any type of accident can cause catastrophic injuries. If the accident resulted from negligence, recklessness, or intentional conduct, the injury victim can file a personal injury lawsuit to recover damages. The costs of daily care for the rest of your life are very high, and the parties who caused the accident should be held responsible.

Common causes of catastrophic injuries include:

• Motor vehicle accident
• Motorcycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Workplace accidents
• Slip and fall
• Medical malpractice
• Birth injuries
• Premises liability
• Defective product liability
• Violence and physical assault
• Industrial accidents

Types of Catastrophic Injuries

Catastrophic injuries are severe, with life-altering impacts. A severe injury could leave you paralyzed, missing a limb, suffering chronic pain, or unable to function because of brain trauma.

Catastrophic injuries may require a family member or loved one to leave their job to provide full-time care. They may need around-the-clock monitoring to prevent them from suffering serious injuries.

Traumatic Brain Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) cause permanent brain damage that can impair cognitive function, speech, and movement, and cause emotional dysfunction.

Some TBIs still allow individuals to perform basic activities of daily living, such as eating, moving around, and sleeping. However, brain damage can limit a person’s independence in more advanced skills, including managing money, preparing meals, and managing health care.

Spinal Cord Injuries

Injuries to the spinal cord can cause paralysis, depending on where the spinal cord damage occurs. Partial paralysis can cause paraplegia and limit sensation from the waist down.

Complete paralysis can cause quadriplegia, with limited ability to move all limbs. Spinal cord injuries can also impair internal functions, including respiration, cardiovascular function, bowel control, and bladder function.

Amputation

Amputation is the loss of a limb or part of a limb, including an arm, hand, finger, or leg. Causes of amputation include traumatic accidents, infections, circulatory disorders, and medical errors. A partial amputation of a finger or toe is still traumatic, but it may allow the injury victim to continue their normal activities. However, losing one or more legs or arms can be much more limiting and may require ongoing care and support.

Damages after an amputation include pain and suffering, limb complications, loss of mobility, and emotional distress. Future life care plans for a catastrophic injury involving amputation may include prosthetic devices, home modifications, vehicle modifications, and continuing medical care and support.

Burn Injuries

Severe burn injuries cause permanent skin and organ damage. Third-degree burn injuries go beyond scarring and disfigurement.

Burn injuries can include other permanent injuries, including nerve damage, reduced mobility, and the need for care to prevent infections. Burn injuries are also associated with mental health disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, and depression.

Damages for Lifelong Care and Treatment

A personal injury lawsuit allows the injury victim to recover compensatory damages for their losses. No amount of money can repair the injury, but monetary damages are intended to compensate the victim for their economic and emotional losses.

Economic damages include lost wages, medical bills, and property damage. However, some expenses will continue long after the lawsuit ends or the parties reach a settlement agreement. The injury victim can also claim future economic costs, including future medical care, assisted living expenses, assistive devices, home modifications, and lost earning capacity.

Catastrophic injury victims can also claim noneconomic damages. Noneconomic damages include pain and suffering, emotional distress, and loss of enjoyment in life. These damages are harder to quantify and may not have a clear dollar value. However, a jury can understand the value of not being able to do what you did before the accident and needing assistance for the rest of your life.

Spouses can also file a derivative claim for loss of consortium. Loss of consortium lets a spouse recover damages for harm to their relationship after the accident. A spouse can claim damages for loss of household services, companionship, and affection.

Expert Witnesses and Estimating the Future Costs of Care

Calculating the value of future medical expenses is challenging. Estimated future care costs depend on the extent of the injury, the daily care required, and the victim’s life expectancy. An expert witness can review medical records, rehabilitation records, and other documentation to develop an estimated life care plan.

Expert witnesses in a catastrophic injury case can include medical experts, life care planners, vocational experts, and economists. When creating an estimated life care plan report, experts evaluate expected future medical and rehabilitative care, physical therapy, and projected future care costs. They also base future care costs on inflation estimates, rising treatment costs, and present-value calculations.

Recovering Compensation for Catastrophic Injuries

Dealing with a catastrophic injury is stressful and confusing. A catastrophic injury attorney can explain your legal options, file a personal injury claim to help you get compensation, and help you through the difficult process. A personal injury lawsuit may be your only way to recover for future care costs and to support you and your family through this challenging experience.

An attorney can explain the legal process and what you can expect to recover in compensation. Contact a local personal injury lawyer for legal advice about your catastrophic injury claim.