While all catastrophic injuries have the potential to be life-changing, burn injuries offer unique challenges. In addition to physical wounds, burn victims often have psychological injuries, as well. Burns often require lengthy hospitalization periods and may never fully heal. They can lead to disfigurement, which can result in people treating you differently. Isolation, and bullying, often accompany burn injuries, leading to psychological damages and trauma that may outlast the initial burn damage.
Burns are also complex to treat. Large areas of severe burns leave the victim prone to secondary infections, which can make treatment complex. Many burn victims also struggle with damage to their lungs and other internal organs. Treatment may last for years, with complications occurring years after the original injury. If you are recovering from a burn injury, contact a Goodlettsville burn injury lawyer at Ponce Law to help you pursue the compensation you deserve.
It is almost impossible to go through an entire lifetime without a burn injury. Sunburns, cooking burns, even taking a sip of a beverage that is too hot—most burns are painful, annoying, and resolve on their own. More serious burns require medical intervention, and almost half a million Americans get medical treatment for burns each year. Only a tiny portion of those people have burns so severe that they require hospitalization, but hospital burn centers can help those with the most severe injuries.
Predicting the lifelong treatment and expenses for medical injuries linked to a burn depends on the degree of the burn, the nature of the burn, and the extent of bodily involvement. A victim’s medical team can help them understand the prognosis. In contrast, a burn injury attorney in Goodlettsville can help people understand the expenses linked to those injuries and the potential damages available.
While most people think of burns as the result of fire or excessive heat, there are actually various types of burns:
Thermal burns—also known as heat burns—result from raised temperatures. Common sources include fires, hot metals, steam, and hot liquids.
Chemical burns happen from chemicals that damage the skin—substances that are too acidic or alkaline, as well as some detergents and solvents that can damage the skin.
Electrical burns can happen from natural or manufactured sources of electricity. People can be hit by lightning, get electrocuted from a downed powerline, or experience issues with faulty products. People who work with or near electricity are at the highest risk.
The cause of the burn impacts the severity of the burn and can also impact how much of the body is involved. It can also impact recovery. A Goodlettsville burn damage attorney can use their experience with various types of burns to help evaluate the likely damages linked to your injuries.
Sometimes, a victim’s negligence leads to their burns. Staying outside in the sun too long, grabbing a hot pan or plate with a hand, or incorrectly using chemicals are some potential ways a victim may contribute to their injuries.
However, many severe burn injuries are linked to other people’s negligence. Car accidents, workplace injuries, defective products, fires, and inadequate housing with dangerous appliances or gas leaks are all potential causes of fires. When someone else’s behavior causes you to suffer serious burn damage, a Goodlettsville injury lawyer can hold them liable for your injuries.
Medical professionals recognize three or four degrees of burns:
For those professionals who recognize fourth-degree burns, those burns extend to the bone layer, require amputations, and are frequently fatal.
A landlord can be considered negligent regarding a residential fire if they fail to maintain safe conditions on the property. Tenants should document any potential fire hazards in their rental unit, notify the landlord in writing about issues, and keep records of their communications.
Specific examples of landlord negligence that can lead to a residential fire include:
Landlords can be held responsible if they could have prevented the fire or failed to promptly address fire hazards they were made aware of. Tenants and guests who are injured in a fire caused by landlord negligence may be eligible to file a burn injury claim for compensation. A lawyer can evaluate the facts and circumstances behind a specific burn injury claim to determine what legal action is possible.
While burn injuries can be caused by many potential sources, residential fires caused by landlord negligence are one of the leading causes of serious burns. Landlords have a legal obligation to maintain their rental property in a safe and habitable condition, which includes addressing foreseeable hazards like faulty wiring or malfunctioning appliances that could cause fires and burns.
If you have been injured in a fire caused by a negligent landlord or property owner, a Goodlettsville burn injury attorney can examine your options to recover your losses.
If a landlord knows about a potential fire hazard on the property and fails to repair it or neglects regular inspections to identify issues, they may be considered to have breached their duty of care. To hold a landlord liable, the tenant must prove that the landlord’s breach of duty directly caused the burn injury.
If a landlord or property owner’s negligence directly contributes to a fire, they can be held legally liable for damages to the property and injuries sustained by the tenant. Tenants have the right to a habitable living environment, including one free of fire hazards.
For example, if a smoke detector is not working properly due to a landlord’s failure to maintain it or a gas leak is not addressed by the landlord, and a fire occurs causing burns, the landlord could be responsible. Property owners can also be held liable for residential fires if they were negligent in maintaining the property.
Burn injuries can be physically, emotionally, and financially devastating. You do not have to handle them alone. Let a Goodlettsville burn injury lawyer at Ponce Law help you. As community members who have been repeatedly voted as Nashville’s Best Law Firm by the Tennessean’s Best of Music City Awards, we fight hard to get our clients the compensation they deserve.
Call today to schedule a consultation and discuss your case with one of our experienced attorneys.
