When it comes to personal injuries, the severity of the injury can range from minor to catastrophic depending on the accident and circumstances. While minor injuries can be inconvenient, the sufferer is often able to heal and return to their normal life after a reasonable amount of time.
Catastrophic injuries, however, are so severe that no matter the treatment, the injured person will never fully recover nor return to their previous way of life. A victim suffering a catastrophic injury will be affected for the rest of their life.
While this is traumatic enough for the injured, it is also painful for the friends and family of the victim, who often see their way of life altered along with their loved ones. Many families must take on the role of full-time caretaker or hire someone to fill this role, adding to the already seemingly insurmountable costs of emergency treatment, hospital bills, and ongoing therapy and care.
What Are the Most Common Catastrophic Injuries?
Many of the most severe catastrophic injuries affect the head and spinal cord, though almost all parts of the body and organs can be affected by a catastrophic injury. Here are some of the most commonly seen catastrophic injuries:
Traumatic Brain Injury
Any traumatic brain injury is caused by a jolt or a blow to the head or oxygen deprivation, and it may affect a person’s memory, concentration and normal brain function. TBIs can range in severity from mild to severe.
Severe TBIs can affect a person for the rest of their life, resulting in changes in personality, vision and hearing, sense of smell, the ability to speak and understand language, the ability to read and write, the ability to maintain body postures and control movements, and more.
A person suffering a moderate or severe TBI may lose consciousness for an extended period of time or suffer a coma. Some TBIs may even cause death.
Spinal Cord Injury
Injuries to the spinal cord can result in loss of movement, loss of sensation, loss of body function and control, loss of fertility, and more. Spinal cord injuries are often diagnosed as either complete or incomplete depending on their severity. One of the most common results of spinal cord injuries is some form of paralysis.
With an incomplete spinal cord injury, the injured person may retain some feeling and sensation below the injury, whereas a complete spinal cord injury results in the loss of all sensory and motor functions below the injury. Depending on the location of the spinal cord injury, the person could become either paraplegic or quadriplegic.
Amputation Injuries
Complete amputation injuries result in the severing of a body part from the whole of the rest of your body, whereas partial amputation injuries result in some soft tissue remaining connected to the rest of your body.
Amputation injuries can occur from an accident or may be required surgically as the result of an accident or injury. When an amputation occurs within an accident, it is referred to as a traumatic amputation.
Body parts most often amputated, either surgically or traumatically, are fingers, hands, arms, legs, feet and toes.
While great lengths have been achieved in prosthetic limbs and helping amputees regain some mobility, amputations can deeply affect the victim’s physical, emotional and mental wellbeing as well as their mobility.
What Causes a Catastrophic Injury?
There are many situations that can lead to a catastrophic injury. Some of the most commonly seen are:
- Car accidents.
- Truck accidents.
- Motorcycle accidents.
- Bicycle accidents.
- Pedestrian accidents.
- ATV accidents.
- Slip-and-fall accidents.
- Dog bite injuries.
- Medical malpractice.
If you or a loved one has experienced a catastrophic injury as the result of someone else’s negligence, you deserve compensation for the physical, emotional and financial losses you’ve endured.
An experienced Kentucky attorney well versed in the practice areas of accidents that can result in catastrophic injuries can help you and your loved ones recover some of what you’ve lost after a severe accident. Choosing an attorney you can trust allows you to begin moving forward with your life after catastrophic injury.
Trust McCoy & Sparks—Premier Personal Injury Attorneys in Central Kentucky
Recognized as one of Central Kentucky’s best law firms for over a decade and counting, McCoy & Sparks works to help people in trouble, representing thousands of clients in Central Kentucky with a focus on providing premium service and delivering superior results.
Regardless of the type of case, our goal is to develop a strategy that best serves your personal needs, then draws upon our courtroom skills to help you reach the best possible result. We start by getting to know you. Next, we will explain all your options, giving you the pros and cons of each choice so that you will be empowered to make informed decisions.
You owe us nothing unless we recover compensation for you. Make the right call to (844) 4KY-WINS for a risk-free consultation with one of our attorneys today.