Burn Injury Lawyer NYC

If you've suffered a serious burn injury, you may not know where to turn for help.

Facing the aftermath of a burn accident can be overwhelming. You may be struggling with physical pain and emotional trauma, while also trying to cope with mounting medical bills and missed work. You may not know if you need a burn injury lawyer, and if so, which one is right for you.

At the Jacob D. Fuchsberg Law Firm, our burn injury attorneys understand what you're going through. We know the physical and emotional pain burn injury victims face and the often long road to recovery.

With decades of experience helping victims of burn injuries in New York City, we know how to get the best results for our clients. If you or a loved one have suffered a severe burn injury, let our family help yours.

Call 212-869-3500 today or contact us online for a free consultation.

Common Types of Burn Injuries in New York

Statistics from the American Burn Association reveal that burns continue to be one of the leading causes of unintentional injury and death in the United States. On average, there are 450,000 burn injuries throughout the United States each year that require medical treatment.

When you burn your skin, cells in the top, or outer layer, of skin die and peel away from living cells underneath, causing pain and blistering (and even potentially scarring).

Burn injuries can come from many sources. You may be burned by your own or someone else's negligence, electrocution, in a car accident, from a defective product, at home or work, on a construction site, or even a burn during medical care. The most common types of burn injuries in New York include:

Thermal burns or flash burns

These burns are the most common type of burn injury and often result from contact with fire, hot objects, liquids, or even steam. Thermal burn injuries burn deeper into the skin than other types of burn injuries, often making them more difficult to treat.

Electrical burns

Electrical burn results from physical contact with an electrical current—either direct current (DC) or alternating current (AC). DC electrical burn is the burn that results from touching live wires, while AC burn comes from touching wires that are charged by high voltage.

Chemical burns

These burns result from contact with hazardous chemicals like lye or chlorine, strong acids, or other dangerous substances. A chemical burn can cause deep tissue damage and permanent scarring if not treated properly.

Radiation burns

These burn injuries result from heat or radiation. Sunburns are the most common example of radiation burn, but people can also suffer burn injuries from nuclear disasters, radioactive nuclear medicines used in treatment, and UV lamps used for tanning.

Cold burns or frostbite

Cold burn injuries result from skin contact with objects heated to extremely low temperatures. It can also result from contact with cold objects under certain conditions, such as high winds and low temperatures.

If you or a loved one sustained a serious burn injury due to someone else's negligence, our New York City burn injury lawyers can help you recover the compensation you are entitled to.

Understanding the Severity & Symptoms of your Burn Injury

Burn injury may affect you in many different ways, so it's important to understand the severity and symptoms of the different degrees of burns.

If your burn is mild enough for outpatient treatment, you won't require hospitalization or surgery. But even if your burn is minor, you should seek immediate medical treatment from a medical specialist.

First-Degree Burns

A first-degree burn generally affects the top layer of your skin, and it's characterized by redness, swelling, and pain. These burns usually heal without scarring within a couple of weeks, but treatment is necessary for superficial burns as it may lead to infection if left untreated.

Second-Degree Burns

Second-degree burns can be very painful. They can also involve joints, skin, and nerves, which might limit their function in the future. If a substance gets into one's eyes, ears, or is inhaled, one might have to deal with vision problems, difficulty eating, or even breathing.

A second-degree burn affects both the top (epidermis) and deeper layers (dermis) of your skin, and it's characterized by redness, swelling, blistering, and intense pain. In some cases, blisters may appear on the burned area 3 to 4 days after the burn.

Second-degree burn injuries may heal without scarring in 4 to 6 weeks but can be more serious if they cover a large area of your body or if the burn is deep enough to damage muscle and bone tissue.

Third-Degree Burns

A third-degree burn is an extremely serious injury that penetrates all three layers of your skin, permanently destroying tissue and characterized by dry, charred skin that may appear white, brown, or black. Large blisters may also appear on the burn area 1 to 2 days after the burn.

If left untreated, third-degree burns can lead to hypothermia, blood loss, or a dangerous bacterial infection. Third-degree burn injuries often will not heal without proper medical attention and may require skin grafting.

Two examples of significant personal injury settlements for third-degree burn injury victims include:

• A $4,000,000 burn injury settlement was awarded to an injured plaintiff who suffered permanent scarring on and near her waist due to a defective product (a highly flammable skirt)
• A $640,000 verdict was awarded in the famous case involving an elderly woman who suffered third-degree burns from a scalding hot coffee spill at McDonald's

Fourth-Degree Burns

Fourth-degree burn injuries typically affect the skin's surface as well as muscles and bones, and they often damage tendons and ligaments. The burn area may be charred black with white patches, moist or dry with no blisters, or it may be white or red with blisters.

Fourth-degree burn injuries often require surgery to replace damaged tissues and skin grafting.

Recovering Compensation for Burn Injury Victims in New York

Compensation from a burn injury can be substantial. Many burn injuries are career-ending for the victim, so they need to be compensated accordingly.

New York law has a statute of limitations of three years for burn injury cases starting from the date of the accident, or the date that your burn was diagnosed by a doctor.

The amount you can expect to receive from a burn injury settlement will depend on the severity of your burn injury, the intentions of the person who caused the burns, and the extent to which a defendant can pay a personal injury claim.

Working With a Trusted New York City Personal Injury Law Firm

When you trust the personal injury lawyers at Jacob D. Fuchsberg with your personal injury case, you'll have confidence knowing we have the experience and resources necessary to conduct a detailed investigation and obtain maximum compensation.

As your legal representation, we'll handle everything so you can focus on your health and recovery. This means our law office will:

• Conduct a detailed investigation to identify how and why you got hurt
• Find out who is financially liable for your injuries
• Consult experts who can help us estimate your case value and future expenses
• Negotiate with insurance companies to get you the best possible amount of burn injury compensation

Understanding Where & How the Injury Happened

Most burn injury lawsuits center on negligence—when an individual fails to act with the care that a reasonable person would exercise, and this failure causes an injury.

In burn injury cases, the victim must show that those responsible for their burn injuries were negligent in some fashion. For example, a burn injury might result from a caregiver not being careful enough with hot water or from a company leaving flammables too close to a heat source.

When a person has been injured in an accident, their compensation will include the same types of damages that are available for other personal injuries, including economic, non-economic, and punitive damages.

Economic Damages: Past and future financial losses

Economic damages allow for the recovery of money spent on medical treatment, loss of past and future earnings, loss of use of property, costs of repair or replacement, the economic value of domestic services, and loss of employment or business opportunities.

Non-Economic Damages: Compensation for Emotional & Physical Pain and Suffering

Burn Injuries can be extraordinarily painful and lead to permanent disfigurement; how much your burn injury settlement is worth is not just about monetary loss but also emotional wellbeing.

Injuries caused by burns can be especially painful due not only to physical pain but also psychological effects such as negative emotions like anger or depression which linger long after healing has occurred.

A liable defendant must compensate a plaintiff for the physical pain they have caused and will continue to cause, as well any emotional distress. An award based on emotional damages considers how much an individual has been upset by their disfigurement; this can include things like depression or embarrassment in social situations where there is potential humiliation over one's disability. For example, a badly burned face often results in higher awards than other types because it reflects such significant suffering from both physical effects like scarring but also mental reactions connected with having something so visible changed forever.

Punitive Damages: Gross or intentional negligence

Punitive damages may be awarded when the defendant's behavior has been exceptionally harmful. This type of award is intended to financially punish the defendant for his or her misconduct that led directly and concurs with injury. These penalties are paid in addition top of economic and non-economic damages.

Contact our New York City Burn Injury Lawyers Today for a Free Consultation

If you, a family member, or a loved one has suffered a burn injury due to another person’s negligence, you may have the legal right to recover compensation.

With decades of experience helping victims of burn injuries throughout Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens, Manhattan, and Staten Island, the personal injury attorneys at Jacob D. Fuchsberg know how to get the best results for our clients. Contact us today to discuss your NYC burn injury claim with the experienced burn injury attorneys at our law firm.

We can help when the unimaginable happens.

Call 212-869-3500 today or contact us online for legal advice and a free case evaluation.