Mesa Burn Injury Attorneys

How Do Burns Occur?

If you or a loved one has suffered in an accident, it’s important to hire an attorney immediately to protect your interests, as at-fault parties and their insurance companies will work hard to minimize payouts. Accidents that cause burns are often the fault of landlords, property owners, and employers, depending on where the fire or explosion takes place and how it was started. Accidents that commonly cause burn injuries include: Burns can be caused anytime, anywhere, especially when there’s a hot object or something flammable nearby. Some fires and explosions are genuine accidents, though, which is why to have a successful injury claim you must prove someone’s negligence caused your damages.

Types of Burn Injuries

Burn injuries range in severity and are typically classified as first, second, third, or fourth degree burns, with first degree being the least severe and fourth degree being severe and often debilitating. The degrees of burns can be broken down as follows:

• First degree: Sunburn is a main example of a first degree burn, which is characterized by sensitive red skin. The burn doesn’t penetrate the skin.
• Second degree: This burn involves not only red skin, but pain, blisters, and swelling as well. These burns can worsen into third degree burns if they’re not treated properly.
• Third degree: These burns cause scarring and are characterized by charred or translucent skin as a result of destroyed tissue. These burns are usually numb.
• Fourth degree: The most serious of all burns, these affect your muscles, ligaments, tendons, and sometimes bone. These burns sometimes require amputations and are life-threatening.

Common types of burn injuries include chemical burns, radiation burns, electrical burns, and thermal burns. The type of burn you get depends on the nature of the accident that caused it. Coming into contact with hazardous chemicals, for example, will yield chemical burns, while a house fire will result in thermal burns. In addition to these burn injuries, victims may suffer from other ongoing complications. Because burns don’t always heal quickly or correctly, it’s common for victims to experience additional symptoms and injuries in the weeks and months following their accidents. Some of these complications include:

• Bone and joint problems
• Scarring
• Infections, including sepsis and skin infections from bacteria
• Fragile skin
• Breathing problems from smoke inhalation or lung damage

The Lifetime Costs of Burns

Because burns require expensive medical procedures like cosmetic surgery and often result in additional complications down the line, treatment costs can extend into tens of thousands of dollars. Burn victims have to consider not just emergency costs, but future costs, too. Medical treatment for burn injuries costs more than $10.4 billion a year in the United States, according to the National Business Group on Health. Some complications that burn victims have to pay thousands of dollars to treat over their lifetimes include scarring, infections, fragile skin, delayed injury healing or failure of skin graft surgery, and counseling for psychological issues. In order to have a chance of recovering the maximum amount of compensation available to you after an accident, it’s crucial that you hire an experienced personal injury attorney. With more than five decades of success in Arizona, our burn injury attorneys can be trusted to pursue justice on your behalf. Over the years, we’ve been able to recover the following damages for our valued clients:

• Medical expenses, including emergency care, ongoing care, and physical therapy
• Pain and suffering
• Mental anguish
• Lost wages from missing weeks or months of work, as burn victims often need numerous surgeries and recovery programs
• Loss of companionship if the victim is unable to fill their familial obligations

Our firm is family-owned and has been for three generations. We strive to treat each of our clients like we’d treat our own family members: with compassion, patience, and respect. During this painful time, we can help you carry your burdens and won’t leave your side until your case is resolved.