Serious Injury

How Is Serious Injury Defined?

A serious personal injury is one that results in significant impairment or pain that lasts for more than a few days. If you have suffered a serious injury, your life will change — for a few weeks, a few months, or in some cases, permanently. A serious injury can also be a traumatic wound that is potentially life-threatening. It may involve breakage, loss of limbs, organ damage or extreme disfigurement.

Examples of this grave kind of injury include:

• Broken bones: A broken bone can lead to a loss of mobility and function that affects your daily activities and prevents you from doing the things you enjoy.
• Disfigurement/scars: Scars and other types of disfigurement can affect how others respond to you.
• Neck and back injuries: Neck and back injuries may heal completely with rest and treatment. In other cases, however, these injuries result in lasting pain.
• Shoulder injuries: A severe shoulder injury can lead to permanent pain and weakness that will make it impossible to play sports or lift objects above your head.
• Knee injuries: Torn ligaments or meniscus may require surgery and a long period of recovery.
• Ankle injuries: Without proper medical treatment and rehabilitation, an ankle injury can limit your mobility.
• Complex regional pain syndrome: Sometimes, injuries result in chronic pain, known as complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) or reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome (RSD).

The Toll of Serious Injury

When you are severely injured in an accident through no fault of your own, you nevertheless face significant medical bills along with the loss of income. The cost of an ambulance, emergency room treatment, surgeries and an extended hospital stay are just the beginning of your financial drain. You will be unable to work for an indefinite time and unable to contribute to running your household as you normally would. You may have to pay someone else to do the things you took for granted before your accident, such as yard work, meal prep or home maintenance.

Your serious injury will likely have lasting impacts. You may require long-term physical therapy and prescription medications for the rest of your life. You might need equipment such as a wheelchair or a prosthetic limb. You may have other recurring medical expenses that result from your serious injury too; for example, you may need a series of skin graft surgeries to repair extensive scarring. If you have organ damage, you may need dialysis or an organ transplant.

Medical bills can be overwhelming, but the suffering you experience following a severe injury is bound to be devastating. While it is impossible to quantify in dollars and sense, the physical and emotional pain may well be your largest expense for the rest of your life. You shouldn’t hesitate to speak with a serious injury lawyer to determine whether the person at fault is obligated to pay compensation.

What Factors Determine Liability?

To qualify for compensation, someone else must be responsible for the accident that caused your injury, either through negligence or intent. An experienced serious injury lawyer could unequivocally prove the driver’s liability and negotiate a favorable settlement for you, either at the bargaining table or in a court of law.

A Riverside and Orange County Serious Injury Lawyer Can Help

At Rizio Lipinsky Heiting of California, we pride ourselves on going above and beyond the typical services of an attorney to fight for the full compensation you are entitled to by law. We will be happy to sit down with you, free of charge, and discuss your case. You can reach us by phone at 888-292-8888 or by submitting our online form to arrange a date and time that is convenient for you.