Burn Injuries

Evansville Burn Injuries Attorneys

If you have suffered a severe burn injury, a skilled personal injury lawyer can help you get the compensation you need to recover. Contact Chapman Injury Lawyers to schedule a free consultation.

Burn injuries often involve immense pain and suffering for victims from the moment they sustain these injuries until long after the traumatic event. Severe burns have the potential to cause possibly disfiguring injuries that can lead to a lifetime of issues. The American Burn Association (ABA)reported that there were 486,00 burn injuries in the United States requiring medical treatment in 2016, and the 40,000 hospitalizations related to burn injuries included 30,000 hospital burn centers.

Many burn injuries stem from some kinds of fire, but it is possible for people to suffer burn injuries in other types of accidents. Not only do these injuries require lengthy terms of very expensive medical treatment, but some victims can also have difficulty going back to their jobs because of newfound limitations as the result of burn injuries.

Did you or your loved one suffer serious burn injuries in an accident caused by another party’s negligence in Indiana, Kentucky, or Illinois? You are going to want to make sure you have an experienced personal injury lawyer on your side.

Chapman Injury Lawyers understands the multitude of ways that burn injuries affect not just victims, but their entire families. Call (812) 461-6261 or contact us online to take advantage of a free consultation.

Do I Need A Burn Injuries Lawyer?

You may very well know just how serious your burn injuries are, but insurance companies are notorious for undervaluing these types of injury claims. Even when an agent for an insurer promises you that everything will be taken care of, you should remain enormously skeptical.

In general, you should avoid speaking to any insurance company until you have legal representation. Let Chapman Injury Lawyers deal with insurers for you.

An insurance company might try to deny liability by claiming that you were at fault for your injuries. One way this is accomplished is by using your own words against you, which is why you should always refuse to provide any recorded statement to a claims adjuster.

It is also possible that an insurance company will offer you a lump sum settlement to resolve your case. Most of these offers are lowball amounts that are nowhere near what victims are entitled to, so you should most definitely let an attorney handle these negotiations since they will know what your case is worth and can fight to recover that amount.

Why Choose Chapman Injury Lawyers To Handle My Case?

Chapman Injury Lawyers guarantees that every client will get a no-obligation, free consultation, even if you do not decide to hire us. We can also communicate via text message if you desire such communications, and our firm will take care of all of the legwork involved in your claim, so you do not have to worry about doing anything other than recovering.

Neil Chapman has almost a quarter-century of legal experience and is a member of the Evansville Bar Association and Indiana Trial Lawyers Association. Stephen Thomas is a member of the Kentucky Justice Association, Indiana Trial Lawyers Association, and Evansville Bar Association, and is licensed in Indiana, Illinois, and Kentucky.

You can know that Chapman Injury Lawyers will negotiate for a settlement that provides for every expense you have incurred or will incur because of your injuries. We also prepare every case for trial, so our firm will not be afraid to file a lawsuit when settlement negotiations are unproductive.

One of the best reasons to work with Chapman Injury Lawyers is because our representation will come at no cost to you. Because we handle cases on a contingency fee basis, you do not pay us any legal fees unless you get a monetary award.

Types of Burn Injury Cases We Handle

According to the Cleveland Clinic, thermal burns are the most common kinds of burns. These burns are usually the result of contact with fire, hot liquid, hot objects, or steam.

Other kinds of burns people could suffer are electrical burns, which occur when the skin comes in contact with electricity. Chemical burns, also referred to as alkali burns, are the result of contact with chemical substances. Most burn injuries are classified by degrees, with the three most common degrees being:

• First-Degree Burns — A first-degree burn affects only the epidermis, or the outer layer of the skin. These burns often heal in a matter of days.
• Second-Degree Burns — A second-degree burn is damage to both the epidermis and the dermis, the layer of skin below the epidermis. These burns can take several weeks to heal.
• Third-Degree Burns — A third-degree burn involves damage extending into the sweat glands and underlying tissues. Third-degree burns always require skin grafting, and some can also require surgery.

Three other degrees of burn injuries do exist, but they are typically used in catastrophic and frequently fatal cases. Fourth-degree burns extend into the fat, fifth-degree burns extend into the muscle, and sixth-degree burns extend into the bone.

Burn injuries often stem from fires that are connected to other kinds of accidents. Some of the most common accidents that can cause burn injuries include:

• Car Accidents — Fires can be especially prevalent in serious car crashes, and victims can frequently be powerless to avoid burn injuries because they are trapped within vehicles.
• Semi Truck Accidents — Commercial trucks often haul cargo that may be extremely flammable, with some tankers containing gasoline. The nature of the cargo may increase the likelihood of a fire and burn injuries.
• Motorcycle Accidents — Motorcyclists often suffer debilitating injuries because of the lack of protection provided by the vehicle, even if they wear the proper safety gear. This exposure can leave motorcyclists particularly susceptible to burn injuries in the event of a crash.
• Explosions — In public places or private property, any kind of unexpected explosion usually leads to an ensuing fire. Explosions can be far more difficult to determine liability for because so much key evidence may be destroyed.
• Defective Products — Certain kinds of unsafe or dangerous products could cause burn injuries when they have been defectively designed, defectively manufactured, or did not have a suitable warning about product use.

In the most severe and tragic cases, victims will not survive severe burn injuries, and the families of those killed could be able to file a wrongful death lawsuit in such cases.

Frequently Asked Questions about Burn Injuries

How are burn injuries treated?

You should always seek medical attention for any burn injury, but your first reaction should be to get a burn injury victim to relinquish contact with a hot object or fire, remove any smoldering material, and then remove burned or restrictive clothing before placing the burned skin under cool running water. Cover the burn with a non-adhesive bandage or cloth.

Moderate burn injuries may be treated with hydrocolloid dressing, which is a transparent or nearly transparent dressing for wounds, and hydrogel dressings are often used for burn injuries resulting in blistering.

Debriding, or the removal of damaged tissue from a wound, is often involved in the treatment of third-degree burns in addition to skin grafting and physical therapy. Wound dressings are standard in the treatment of higher degree burns.

How is burn size calculated?

The Wallace rule of nines (which is usually referred to simply as the Rule of Nines) is a chart of the human body that has percentage values assigned to areas of the body for adults and children. Total body surface area (BSA) affected by a burn is usually calculated by a doctor adding each of the corresponding values. The chart is called the Rule of Nines because a majority of the body parts are denoted as being 9 percent BSA damage, with the only exceptions being the leg and the entire back (18 percent each) and the groin (1 percent).

What is a skin graft?

Skin grafts are quite simply skin transplants, with the name for the kind of skin graft being derived from the source of donor skin. When donor skin is taken from a different site on the same victim’s body, the procedure is an autologous or autograph. When a donor and victim are genetically identical, it is a syngraft, isogenic, or isograft. Donors and victims of the same species are allogeneic or allografts. Donors and victims of different species are heterografts, xenogeneic, or xenografts. Lost tissue replaced with synthetic materials is a prosthetic graft.

Contact an Indiana, Kentucky, and Illinois Burn Injuries Attorney Today

If you or your loved one sustained catastrophic burn injuries in an accident caused by another party’s negligence in Indiana, Kentucky, or Illinois, you need to understand that you have a limited amount of time to take legal action. You do not want to delay in contacting a lawyer because you are going to want your accident to be investigated, evidence to be preserved, and all legal claims to be filed before the statute of limitations expires.

Chapman Injury Lawyers will be committed to helping you achieve the most desirable resolution to your case that provides a real sense of justice for all that you have had to endure. You can have us discuss all of your legal options as soon as you call (812) 461-6261 or contact us online to set up a free consultation.