California Burn Injury Lawyers
Burn injuries can be devastating. Long recovery times, lingering impairments, and diminished quality of life can all be associated with the dangerous effects of burn injuries. Burn injuries often result out of negligence of some kind. That is, dangerous conditions in a work environment, lack of facilities planning in allowing for a quick and easy exit in the event of a fire, and general product defects can all lead to burn injuries. Consequently, those responsible for the poor conditions and/or faulty product that ultimately led to the burn injury can be held liable for damages resulting from the burn injury.
The American Burn Association estimates that 500,000 burn injuries require medical treatment each year. Those burn injuries take on a variety of forms, and can occur for a variety of reasons, such as:
- Fire burns: flames can seriously harm a person, wreaking havoc on skin layers, consequently damaging nerves and hindering the growth of new skin cells; 6,000 people die each year as the result of injuries sustained during fires
- Scalding water burns: water that is heated to more than 120 degrees Fahrenheit can damage the skin, resulting in burns; just about 5,000 people are burned by scalding water each year
- Chemical burns: acidic or base substances can negatively impact the skin, burning their way through skin layers and causing scarring as a result
- Inhalation burns: heated smoke that is inhaled into the body can result in damage to the esophagus and lungs, affecting one's ability to breath and ultimately rendering one unconscious if exposure is not curbed; more than half of those individuals who are fire victims die not from flames, but from smoke inhalation
Burn injuries can require extensive surgery to repair, may permanently scar, and could render one's life permanently changed. Recovery from burn injuries can be expensive, and should not be the responsibility of the victim alone if the victim was not responsible for causing the burn injury. For example, if a smoke detector is faulty, and does not warn its owner of the impending dangers of a fire, then the manufacturer of that smoke detector can be deemed responsible for providing the owner of that product with a defective item that does not perform its adequate warning in the event of a fire as it is advertised and guaranteed to do. Furthermore, if a building owner does not provide adequate escape routes for inhabitants of the building, and those inhabitants are unable to escape during the outbreak of a fire, then the building owner can be held accountable for failing to provide emergency exits and/or escape routes that would have otherwise delivered the occupants of the building from harm. Similarly, if an employer does not provide safe working conditions for his or her employees, then that employer can be held for injuries sustained while on the job, including burn injuries.
If you or a loved one has suffered from a burn injury, don't hesitate to contact the burn injury lawyers at Van Der Walde & Associates. Our skilled Northern California burn injury attorneys will examine the details surrounding your accident, and will hold negligent parties accountable for their actions. Please call us today at 877-862-6288 for a free consultation.
