All injuries are painful and disrupt the injury victim’s life, including their ability to work and accomplish daily routines. Fortunately, the human body has an amazing ability to heal and most injuries are fully recoverable, causing only temporary pain and debility. Some injuries; however, cause long-term or permanent damages, with adverse, life-altering effects. In personal injury cases, these life-altering injuries are known as catastrophic injuries. Make sure to consult a Marysville catastrophic injury lawyer for legal guidance and support.
What Makes a Washington Catastrophic Injury Claim Different?
When a person suffers an injury caused by someone else’s actions or negligence, they have a right to recover their damages, like medical expenses, lost wages, and compensation for pain and suffering through a personal injury claim against the at-fault party. Most personal injury claims are generated by injuries like whiplash, fractures, soft-tissue injuries, road rash, concussions, lacerations, and other common injuries. Thes injuries cause temporary hardship and suffering but in most cases, the victim fully recovers with adequate medical care.
A catastrophic injury is one that leaves the injury victim with long-term or permanent impacts such as:
- Physical disability
- Cognitive impairment
- The loss of a limb
- The loss of an organ or organ function
- The loss of hearing or vision
- Disfigurement
- Severe scarring
Catastrophic injuries result in far greater damages due to impacts on entire families, such as a provider’s inability to return to work in their previous capacity or at all, or a parent’s loss of ability to care for their children. Catastrophic injuries may also require further medical procedures, life-long medical care, home health aides, and assistive and adaptive equipment. The worst catastrophic injuries may require lifelong full-time care in a nursing home or other facility.
Economic and Non-Economic Damages in Washington Catastrophic Injury Claims
Injuries with severe, life-altering consequences are expensive as well as painful and debilitating. Common damages in catastrophic injury claims include economic damages such as the following:
- Past and future medical costs
- Cost of assistive and adaptive equipment, rehabilitation, and services such as home health aides, caregivers for children, and household maintenance
- Lost income
- Diminished future earning capacity
Non-economic damages are less easily calculated, but have the most adverse impacts on quality of life. Common non-economic damages in catastrophic injury claims include:
- Compensation for pain and suffering
- Diminished quality of life
- PTSD, anxiety, and depression
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Loss of consortium (the ability to enjoy a full physical and emotional relationship with a loved one)
If a catastrophic injury results in a fatality, the injury victim’s close family members can recover compensation through a wrongful death claim or lawsuit.
Causes of Catastrophic Injuries In Washington Personal Injury Claims
Catastrophic injuries most commonly result from serious car accidents, commercial truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, pedestrian accidents, premises accidents, defective products, workplace injuries, sports injuries, fires, medical malpractice, and acts of violence. The at-fault party is liable for the victim’s damages. Compensation in catastrophic injury cases typically comes from a settlement with the at-fault party’s insurance company, but less commonly requires a successful lawsuit and a jury award for damages.
How Can a Washington Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Help My Case?
It takes a great deal of investigation, consultation with medical experts, and documentation to prove the long-term impacts of a catastrophic injury on the victim and their family. Call Wells Trumbull for results-oriented representation by a compassionate injury attorney in Marysville who takes the time to get to know every client and their family to personally witness the impact of the injury and make the most compelling case for the maximum compensation available.