Northern California Burn Injury Lawyers
Common Northern California Burn Injuries
Burn injuries can be caused by exposure to heat, chemicals, sunlight, electricity and even radiation. Although most burns only affect the outer layers of the skin, more severe burns can damage muscle, bone and blood vessels. Severe burn injuries, which can be life threatening, require consistent care by a medical professional. If not managed or cared for properly, serious complications can arise out of a burn injury, such as infection, shock, organ dysfunction, amputation and respiratory distress.
If you have been seriously burned in an accident, contact the northern California burn injury attorneys at Estey Bomberger. With our help, you may be able to obtain compensation for your injuries from the at-fault individual or company. Compensation can be won for hospital stays, medical expenses, lost wages due to time away from work, disfigurement, and pain and suffering. We can also help family members who have lost a loved to a burn injury. The types of compensation we have recovered for grieving family members include medical bills, funeral expenses, loss of companionship, loss of support and emotional anguish.
Types of Common Burn Injuries
Contact burn injury
Contact burns are usually caused by exposure to hot liquids or steam, hot metals or any other type of heated material or object, such as a curling iron or stove. Contact burn injuries can happen at home or in the workplace. Construction workers who handle steam powered heavy machinery on a daily basis are particularly at risk for a serious contact burn injury.
Explosion burn injury
Explosion burn injuries are very common in the construction industry where the use of flammable liquids and gases is prevalent. Explosion of a toxic liquid or gas can create four stages of a blast injury, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary stages of an explosion can result in severe thermal (heat) and chemical burns, lung damage and blunt trauma injuries for a victim.
Inhalation injuries
Inhaling the hundreds of chemicals that are released when smoke is present can cause serious respiratory complications and death. Gases released into the air by a fire, such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide can impair oxygen intake and result in asphyxiation. Inhalation injuries are the primary cause of death for victims of indoor fires. Victims of inhalation injuries typically suffer from burn injuries as well.
Prognosis of Northern California Common Burn Injuries
New discoveries in burn injury treatments over the last 60 years have significantly improved the prognosis for burn injury victim survivors. As with any injury, a victim’s prognosis depends on the severity of injury, the patient’s pre-existing health condition, the patient’s age and the availability of treatments. The burn surface area, or total body surface area (TBSA) as it is also called, will also be assessed when determining a victim’s prognosis. TBSA is usually established by using the rules of nine, which divides the body into sections of nine percent. In cases where a victim’s burns cover a small area, the person’s palm will be used to represent one percent of body surface. Burns covering more than 15 percent or more of a victim’s TBSA significantly increases the victim’s likelihood of dying.
Northern California Burn Injury Attorney Consultation
To arrange a free consultation with a northern California burn accident attorney at Estey Bomberger, phone our law firm directly at (800) 890-6722. If we represent your case, you will not be charged any fees until we obtain financial compensation for your damages. We do not charge any retainer fees and will not ask you to advance any funds. Talk to one of our northern California burn injury attorneys immediately to learn how we can help you move forward.