Spartanburg Burn Injury Lawyer

HawkLaw can help burn injury victims receive the maximum settlement for their injuries, allowing them to pay bills and heal with financial peace. Reach out today by using our contact page or calling 888.HAWK.LAW to speak with a burn injury lawyer in Spartanburg.

What Does Burn Injury Mean?

A burn injury is an injury to the skin or any other tissue on the body caused by fire, heat, electricity, friction, chemicals, or electricity exposure. These injuries cause severe pain and can lead to disfigurement. Working with a burn injury attorney helps you get fair compensation when suffering from this type of injury.

Some of the types of accidents that can cause burn injuries include:

• Motor vehicle accidents: Car crashes and truck accidents often cause fires that can lead to burn injuries.
• Tanker explosions: When tanker trucks explode, they can create many accident victims.
• Electrical accidents: Electrical accidents may cause sparks or fires that lead to burns.
• Defective products: Products made improperly can combust and create a fire hazard and create the basis for a product liability claim.
• Inadequate fire emergency plans: Employers or building owners that do not post adequate fire emergency plans may be guilty of not following their duty of care.
• Locked fire exits: Locked or blocked fire accidents can allow someone to suffer severe burns when otherwise they would have been able to leave the building.
• Apartment building or recreational fires: When people light fires and do not attend to them properly, they can spread, and this can create a risk for burn injuries.

Because there are so many different potential causes, burn injury cases can have many ways to fight for compensation, which is why working with an attorney is so helpful.

Types of Burn Injuries

Doctors classify burn injuries based on their severity. They receive ratings of first, second, third, or fourth degree.

First-Degree Burns

These mild burns only damage the epidermis, which is the top layer of the skin. They cause it to become red and painful, but not to blister. These rarely require medical attention.

Second-Degree Burns

These burns affect the epidermis as well as the dermis, which is the second layer. They create pain and redness and often cause swelling and blistering. Sometimes they require medical treatment.

Third-Degree Burns

Third-degree burns burn the epidermis, dermis, and fat layers of the skin. They destroy hair follicles and sweat glands. They often turn the skin black or white and give it a leathery look. These severe burns may not hurt because the nerves have damage, but they require medical attention and may cause severe disfigurement or scarring.

Fourth Degree Burns

Fourth-degree burns burn all the layers of the skin and the underlying fat layer, but they also damage the muscle and bone. This severe burn can cause permanent damage to the area. Sometimes amputation is necessary.

Different Types of Burns

In addition to the classification system, burn accident victims can categorize their burns based on how they received them. Some types of burns include these:

• Thermal burns: These burns occur when an external heat source increases the skin’s temperature. This can be from anything hot, including fire, hot liquids, steam, or hot surfaces.
• Electrical burns: These burns occur when the skin comes in contact with electricity, damaging the skin.
• Chemical burns: These are burns that occur when someone touches a dangerous chemical.
• Radiation burns: This type of burn occurs when the skin receives damage due to radiation exposure.

Regardless of the type or degree, burns often cause severe pain and ongoing health needs. That is why working with a Spartanburg personal injury lawyer is so important after a burn accident.

Burn Injury Treatment

Burn injury treatment depends on the extent of the burn and how much tissue has damage. First-degree and some second-degree burns require nothing more than home first aid.

If you have third-degree burns or severe second-degree burns, you need to seek medical care. Treatment begins with antibiotic creams and covering the burns to prevent infection. For large burns, skin grafts that take skin from a healthy area of the body to cover the burned area helps protect the underlying tissue during healing. Sometimes if someone has extensive burns over many parts of their body, artificial or donor grafts are necessary.

IV fluids are another part of treatment. This keeps the blood pressure steady while the person heals. IV fluids also help reduce the risk of shock and dehydration.

If damage to underlying muscle, bone, or nerves is severe, the victim may require an amputation. Doctors will monitor the area to reduce the risk of infection.

Secondary Injuries from Burns

Burns often cause additional injuries beyond the burn itself. For example, accident victims may find that they suffer from limited mobility due to tightening and scarring of the skin or damage to the muscle and bone.

Infection can lead to serious medical issues and mounting medical expenses. If improper medical care occurred, you may have grounds for a medical malpractice case.

Pain management is a major part of burn recovery. Burns are serious injuries that cause extensive pain, and your medical team should be proactive at managing your pain while you heal. Extensive pain can lead to emotional suffering.

Many burn victims end up with post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, after their injuries. The extreme pain, often shocking circumstances of the accident, and ongoing medical needs that occur after a severe burn can lead to this chronic mental health condition.

Sometimes, burn victims end up disfigured after their accidents. Disfigurement causes emotional suffering and pain. In severe cases, you may even face the death of a loved one after a burn accident. Fatal accidents can lead to wrongful death cases depending on the circumstances of the accident.

Why Hire a Personal Injury or Burn Injury Lawyer

If you suffer a burn in a car accident, motorcycle accident, work accident, or some other type of accident, you may be due compensation for your injuries. Burn cases often have at-fault parties that are liable for the accident and resulting injuries. Yet while you are working on healing, pursuing compensation is the last thing on your mind. Working with a personal injury law firm will help you protect your rights and receive fair compensation for your injuries.

When you hire a South Carolina personal injury or accident lawyer to assist, you get solid legal advice from a qualified professional. Personal injury attorneys work with the aftermath of injuries all the time. They know how to negotiate settlements that are fair in a personal injury case, so you get the money you need to heal.

When you have a law office on your side, the personal injury claim process with any insurance company goes more quickly. A personal injury attorney knows the claims process well, and this takes stress off of your plate while you heal. With fewer delays, you get your hands on your money faster, so you can start paying down your medical bills.

Should your case go to court, you will have legal representation on your side. Often, either through court or through negotiation, having a respected, trusted lawyer on your side leads to higher settlements.

HawkLaw has a team of personal and burn injury attorneys that have many years of experience. Our Spartanburg, Charleston, Columbia, and Greenville offices are carefully spread throughout the region to provide convenient legal services throughout Spartanburg County.

We value the attorney-client relationship and operate in many practice areas in addition to personal injury law, which means you get comprehensive legal representation. Should accident victims need to file a workers’ compensation claim or claim for property damage in addition to their personal injury claim, we can help.

Our Process

Working with HawkLaw after a burn accident is fairly simple. Here’s what you can expect from our process:

Step 1: Talk to Us

Set up an initial consultation at no cost to you*. We will discuss the details of your case and your injuries to determine if you have solid ground to pursue compensation.

Step 2: Build Your Case

We will begin collecting data about your injuries, medical care, the accident, and your ongoing needs. We will build a case that shows who the at-fault party is, so you can seek compensation from them. We are a digital-first law firm, so you will have access to check our findings as we build your case.

Step 3: Negotiations

While we can go to court if the need arises, our first step is always negotiation. We want to try to negotiate a fair, just settlement on your behalf that will fully cover your costs as you heal. Our goal is to fight to win and account for your injury, pain, and suffering. If negotiations fail, we will talk with you about the option of going to court.

Contact HawkLaw to Discuss Your Burn Injury Case in Spartanburg

Our personal injury lawyers are waiting to talk to you. Fill in our online form or call 888.HAWK.LAW to schedule your free initial consultation* with a Spartanburg burn injury lawyer.