What is the Average Settlement for a Burn Injury?

Burns can be devastating injuries. Depending upon the type of burn, the severity of the injury, and its location on the body, a burn can cause permanent scarring, nerve damage, infection, and even loss of a limb.

If you’ve sustained a burn injury, whether due to a vehicle collision, a workplace accident, or another type of incident, you may be eligible for significant compensation. A legal settlement can help cover medical expenses, lost wages, and other factors that affect your quality of life. The average settlement for a burn injury can vary widely depending on the severity of the injury.

If you’ve experienced a burn injury, seek medical attention immediately. Make sure you keep accurate records of the incident and any documentation of your medical treatments. Next, seek legal counsel to assist you in pursuing fair compensation. Our New York burn injury attorneys can advocate for your rights.

What factors affect a burn injury settlement?

There are several considerations that can impact the potential settlement for a burn injury, including:

• The depth, or severity, of the burn
• The type of burn injury
• The size and location of the burn
• The party responsible for the injury

The average settlement for a burn injury depends firstly on the depth of the burn, followed by additional factors.

Levels of severity of burns

Burn injuries are generally classified into categories based on their severity. Commonly measured in levels of degree, burns can also be defined by how deeply they penetrate the skin. There are four levels of burn severity:

• First-degree burns, or superficial burns, are the least severe type of burn. First-degree burns are injuries that affect the outermost layer of skin, the epidermis. Symptoms of first-degree burns include redness, pain, swelling, and feeling hot to the touch.
• Second-degree burns, also known as partial-thickness burns, tend to go through the skin enough to injure the dermis, the layer beneath the epidermis. Second-degree burns will often blister and may appear shiny or discolored.
• Third-degree burns, commonly called full-thickness burns, often reach and damage tissue beneath both the epidermis and dermis, known as the subcutaneous tissue. Skin that has suffered a third-degree burn may look white or blackened and charred.
• Fourth-degree burns, also known as full-thickness burns, are deep enough to go through both layers of skin and underlying tissue, and may cause damage to muscle or bone. Although this type of injury is often less painful due to nerve damage caused by the burn, a fourth-degree burn is generally a catastrophic injury.

First-degree burns are generally only as severe as a bad sunburn, and therefore often do not result in a legal settlement. Second-degree burns can cost a few thousand dollars to treat and burns that are deeper can accrue much higher medical costs, which can demand higher compensation.

The depth of the burn greatly impacts how it is treated and how long it takes to heal. The deeper the burn, the more likely it is to become infected, or have long-term complications such as permanent damage to the nerves or other tissues beneath the skin. A sufferer from a burn injury may also have significant scarring, which can have lasting emotional effects.

Types of burns

Burns have several common causes and types, each of which can vary in degree. Types of burns include:

Thermal burns, caused by exposure to extreme temperatures such as flame, boiling water, steam, hot surfaces, freezing temperatures, ice, snow, and liquid nitrogen (dry ice).

Chemical burns, which can be caused by a number of caustic substances that damage the skin on contact. Lye, strong acids, turpentine, and explosive substances may cause chemical burns. A person may suffer chemical burns after a car accident from the substances that cause airbags to deploy.

Friction burns are caused by surfaces sliding across the skin. Motorcycle or bicycle accidents often cause friction burns in addition to abrasions (colloquially called road rash) due to skidding on asphalt.

Electrical burns can be caused by an electrical current passing through the body. Electrical burns may be a result of getting struck by lightning, contact with a live wire or electric fence, or being tased.

Radiation burns occur due to exposure to radiation, such as ultraviolet light or x-rays. A sunburn would be classified as an often mild solar radiation burn.

Size and location of burns

The severity of a burn injury can be impacted by its location on the body and by its size.

For example, some types of burns can injure the inside of the body, such as when a person breathes in steam or ingests a caustic substance, causing damage to the throat, lungs, or other organs.

Burns which cover 10% or more of the body’s surface area put the patient at an automatically higher risk than if they’d endured smaller burns and require specialized burn treatment. Additionally, burns on the face, hands, feet, groin, or which fully span around a portion of the body require specialized burn treatment.

Larger burns or burns in higher-risk parts of the body leave the person more vulnerable to infection and have a permanent impact on quality of life, especially if not properly treated.

Burn recovery costs

The more critical the burn, the more likely a victim will require long-term treatment. Recovering from a burn injury can be costly in many ways. A burn injury lawyer can help you receive a fair settlement to help relieve the financial burden of recovery.

Victims of severe burns often require treatment at a specialized burn center. Wound care and pain management will also often be needed for some time after their initial burn center treatment. If the burn impacts a bone or limb, the patient may also require orthopedic surgery.

Sufferers of severe burns often struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, grief, insomnia, depression, and body image issues, requiring mental health counseling or trauma therapy for the victim and their family members. The victim might also need physical therapy to dela with mobility problems or pain, as well as occupational therapy to help them re-learn how to perform certain activities while dealing with their injuries. Restorative plastic surgery might also be necessary to help a burn victim perform basic functions, relieve pain, or restore appearance.

In addition to medical costs, a person suffering from a burn injury may also be out of work for some time as they receive initial treatment and long-term care. This can place a heavy financial burden on the victim and their family, especially as medical costs pile up.

Even after medical treatment and rehabilitative therapies, burn injury victims might be at risk of further complications in the future. For example, scar tissue can often contract over time, which may present mobility issues that must be addressed through plastic surgery. Burn injuries can also cause pain that stays with the victim for the remainder of their life. Damage to the skin can result in difficulty regulating body temperature. Breathing issues, organ damage, and digestive problems, are also possible.

All of the above factors may impact a burn injury settlement. Other factors can include the amount of insurance coverage available from the responsible party and the amount and quality of evidence presented in the case. Although it might not seem fair, the victim’s age and gender can also influence settlement outcomes. Children, younger adults, and female victims of burns often are given higher settlements due to the cosmetic impacts of burn injuries.

Injured by a burn? Contact Feroleto Law

While the average settlement of a burn injury can vary greatly, a skilled attorney can thoroughly assess your case and advocate for you to receive fair compensation.

If you or a loved one have experienced any type of severe burn injury in Buffalo or anywhere else in New York State, our attorneys can help you get the compensation you need to get your life back. Call our office at (716) 427-0243 or fill out our contact form to schedule a confidential, complimentary consultation.

Sources:

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12063-burns

https://www.nationwidechildrens.org/conditions/health-library/classification-of-burns

https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/burns

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK539773/

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/12063-burns