Dealing with a burn injury can be very challenging. When you do suffer from a bad burn, it could cause a lot of pain, result in permanent disfiguration, lead to a lack of mobility and even affect your ability to work. At the same time, a bad burn can result in a variety of financial setbacks. There are a variety of unexpected costs of burn injuries that can quickly add up. It is important that you receive proper financial consideration to help offset all of your current and potential future costs related to the burn
Initial Hospitalization and Care
If you have suffered a burn, it is always very important that you receive medical attention. If you believe that you have received a first-degree burn, it should heal on its own within one to two weeks, but having it checked out and treated by a healthcare professional is always a good idea as it can reduce the risk of infection.
Those that have a third- or fourth-degree burn will always need to go to a hospital. Depending on severity, size and location of the burn, you may need to spend several nights in a hospital until you have stabilized and cleared to leave by the doctors. Even if you have a full health insurance plan, the cost of this medical attention will be thousands of dollars. If you do not have health insurance coverage and need to spend time in a hospital due to a burn injury, the medical expenses can be substantially higher.
Physical Therapy
Suffering from a burn injury can be extremely difficult to deal with. Not only will someone experience immense pain, but they could be left with severe physical scarring. In some cases, depending on the location of the burn, it could also lead to a lack of mobility. If you do suffer from a burn injury and do not have the mobility that you once did, extensive physical therapy could be a good next step. While you can get stronger and even get all of your mobility back, there will be a cost every time you do go in for a session.
Plastic Surgery
Most of the time, a first-degree burn will heal on its own. However, a second-, third- or fourth-degree burn could cause long-lasting damage to your skin. In some cases, this may result in just a small scar, but a larger burn that is on an exposed area of the body could alter someone’s appearance. Due to this, receiving plastic surgery to help repair or even replaced severely damaged and burned skin is necessary in some cases. Depending on the scope of this procedure and whether or not you are covered by insurance, the cost of plastic surgery can be extremely expensive.
Inability to Work in Future
One of the largest expenses that people can incur after a burn injury is the inability to work in the future. If you no longer are able to work due to this injury, you will not have a source of income to rely on. This could derail someone’s career and end up costing them a significant amount of money because of it. Unless they are covered by a disability insurance plan, it could cause serious financial strain on the victim of the burn injury. Those that do need to work may then need to accept lower paying jobs or invest in education to improve their skills.
Pain and Suffering and Mental Health Challenges
The impact of a burn injury can continue to affect someone for the rest of their life. If you suffer from a burn injury during an accident, the pain that you feel does not always go away quickly. Those that suffer from bad burns could continue to feel this pain for weeks after the accident. Further, when you are a victim of a burn injury, it can continue to create a variety of mental health challenges. The impact of a burn can result in PTSD, which could make it hard to return to the workplace or continue to live the same lifestyle that they did before the injury occurred. It can be very challenging to determine what the financial cost of this, but it will be quite impactful on someone’s life.
If you have suffered from a burn injury, you need to make sure that you have the financial resources available to support yourself during the recovery process and going forward as well. The legal team with Evans & Herlihy can help you with your burn injury case. They will be able to provide you with a full consultation and handle all aspects of your case including filing insurance claims or lawsuits and handling any negotiations during the process to ensure that you receive the support that you are entitled to.
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