Burn Injuries

Burn injuries are at the top of most people’s most feared injury lists. The mere thought of suffering a burn makes us shiver, but being trapped in a burning vehicle is just unimaginable. While the exploding vehicles in the movies are not common in today’s day and age, burn injuries are still more common than most people think. Car fires are usually started when flammable liquids such as gasoline, diesel fuel, engine oil, transmission fluid, power steering fluid, brake fluid, or engine coolant are ignited.

TYPES OF BURNS

Burns are categorized into first, second, and third degree burns. Per the Center for Disease Control, following is a description of each:

First-Degree Burns: These involve only the top layer of skin. An example of a first-degree burn would be a sunburn. Signs would include:

• Redness
• Painful to touch
• Skin will show mild swelling

Second-Degree Burns: These involve the top two layers of skin. Signs include:

• Deep reddening of the skin
• Pain
• Blisters
• Glossy appearance from leaking fluid
• Possible loss of some skin

Third-Degree Burns: A third-degree burn goes all the way through the skin and permanently destroys tissue. Signs include:

• Loss of skin layers
• Often painless (nerves are burned, although areas around the third degree burn will hurt as they are second or first degree burns)
• Skin is dry and leathery
• Skin may appear charred or have patches that appear white, brown, or black

Providing caring and thorough representation to our burn injury clients is very important to us as a firm. These clients have developed a toughness, both physically and mentally, that very few people ever do. Our job is to help them move through the personal injury process with as little stress as possible and to maximize their claims by being able to see and tell their story to insurance adjusters and jurors, if needed.