long beach burn injury attorneys
Since the late 1970s, the Long Beach California burn injury attorneys at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo have represented burn injury cases just like yours and won for those victims their due compensation. They want to do the same for you and help you truly get on the road to recovery. In the United States, over 50,000 people go to the hospital every year for burn injuries. Of that large number, one-third of the burn injury victims are kids under fifteen.
All burn injuries need comprehensive treatment as the burned area of the body may get worse if left untreated or undertreated. It is critical to get help especially because the skin is a main barrier against infections. Call our firm today to schedule your free initial consultation and discuss you or your loved one’s specific burn injury case regardless of whether the burn injury happened at work, in an auto accident, you were scalded by boiling water or hot coffee or hot tea or if any other type of burn injury occurred. Our firm has vast amounts of experience representing the full scope of burn injury cases from workers’ compensation claims and personal injury cases to work injury cases.
call us today so we can help
It is important, especially if you have had a second or third degree burn, to call your doctor first. The second phone call, though, that you make should be to quality burn injury attorneys who have experience with your type of case, who know how to help you legally and who can make sure you are getting the proper medical attention. We answer our phones 24 hours a day so call us right now at (562) 372-3960.
definition for burn injury
Burns are injuries that can be traumatic and can be caused by chemicals, heat, radiation, electricity, fire, or friction. Globally, burns cause the death of about three hundred thousand people every year. The number of non-lethal burn injury cases is countless. Four thousand of those who die due to a burn injury are Americans with about two thousand of the victims in the United States being kids under fifteen. Burn injuries are classified by how deep the burn is, how much damage has been caused directly to the skin, and how much damage was caused to the area surrounding the skin including the underlying tissues. The exposed areas of our body are the ones that are statistically most likely to be burned. This includes finger burn injuries, hand burn injuries, feet burn injuries, neck burn injuries, face burn injuries, and arm burn injuries.
burn injuries: first degree
Sunburns are the most common example given for first degree burns but the range of severity shows that first degree burns can be worse than the average sunburn. First degree burn injuries affect only the top layer of the skin and the usual signs include a white plaque, some swelling, redness, and pain. It could take about five to seven days for the healing process to finish.
burn injuries: second degree
Second degree burn injuries are where it has hurt more than just the victim’s outermost layer of skin. The burn may even go as deep as the reticular dermis layer of the skin. The signs for second degree burns are mild to severe pain, redness, and blistering. The healing times average around three weeks but it varies quite a bit.
burn injuries: third degree
Third degree burns are serious injuries as the burn totally injures every layer of the skin and can even cause problems to the tissue beneath the skin. Due to the fact that these burn injuries also damage the nerves, they may not cause any pain for the victim at first. They will still be in pain, though, since most third degree burn injuries have first or second degree burns around them that are still painful. The signs that it actually is a third degree burn are a combination of the burned area of the body looking charred, white, brown, or leathery.
a newer system to classify burns
You were probably aware of the burn system that rates them as first, second and third degree even before reading this page. Recently, a new system to rate burn injuries that is clearer for health professionals is growing in popularity. Doctors like it because the burn’s type and characteristics are part of the name. This leaves less room for being subjective and descriptions are clearer. In this system, first degree burns are named Superficial Thickness; second degree burns are called Partial Thickness – Superficial; and third degree burns are called Partial Thickness – Deep. This new system has also created a fourth degree burn which refers to Full Thickness burn injuries. Regardless of which classification system you use, burn injuries can be life changing, painful and emotionally scarring. They deserve top-notch representation by one of the experienced and ethical Long Beach burn injury lawyers at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo.
burned while on the job
Most jobs have become safer over the last thirty years due to technology improvements and the changing economy. One injury that still occurs probably every day to someone on the job is that of being burned. Chemical burns, building fires, kitchen and restaurant fires, and welding burn injuries are just four examples of burn injuries at work. Our Long Beach work injury attorneys have over three decades of experience with workers’ compensation (as well as personal injury cases) for burn injuries so you can rely on us to work hard for you and get you the compensation you deserve if you have been burned and/or hurt while working.
common causes of burn injury
The following are possible causes for burn injuries.
- Fire (eg: touching the fireplace or campfire)
- Radiation burns (eg: from sunburns or radiation therapy)
- Chemical burns (eg: strong acids like sulfuric acid)
- Scalding (eg: from spilled hot coffee, steam or boiling water)
- Heat burns (eg: hot metals or the stove)
- Electrical burns (eg: electric shocks)
- Tanning salon overuse or negligence;
- Car, SUV and Truck accidents;
- On The Job Accidents;
- Construction Site Accidents;
- Work injuries;
- Building Fire;
- Motorcycle accidents;
- Defective Products; and
- Welding burn injuries.
total body surface area (tbsa)
Clearly, all human bodies are very different in terms of size, shape, and weight. Medical professionals have constructed a calculation technique to estimate how much total area of the body the burn injury has affected. This is mostly used for burn injuries that are 2nd degree or worse. The Rule of 9s is its name. They have broken up the adult human body into eleven separate sections. Each section is estimated to be about 9% of the total body surface area. The remaining 1% refers to burn injuries to the genitals. The eleven sections refer to: right arm and hand burn injuries, left arm and hand burn injuries, head burn injuries, chest and neck burn injuries, upper back burn injuries, lower back burn injuries, abdomen burn injuries, left thigh burn injuries, right thigh burn injuries, left lower leg, calf and foot burn injuries and right lower leg, calf and foot burn injuries.
burn injury: usual treatments
Regardless of whether your injury has been a toe burn, arm burn, leg burn, hand burn, stomach burn, head burn or a burn anywhere else, you should contact your doctor immediately. Treatments differ depending on how serious the burn is, its location on the injured person’s body, their overall condition (eg: dehydration and/or infection) and what other injuries were sustained (eg: broken bones). It is an important general rule for you to not break any blisters that have developed because of the burn injury. For really serious burn injuries, treatments may include cosmetic surgery, skin grafting, the removal of dead skin (debridement), or other types of surgeries for burn injuries. Massage, acupuncture, and physical therapy are some of the follow-up treatments that are done to help improve the overall recovery process.
burn injury areas that are critical
Each and every burn injury is serious but some burns are classified as critical automatically just because of their location on the body (as long as they are second or third degree burns). These four areas are a person’s genitals or face or if the burns include full hand burn injuries or full foot burn injuries.
attorneys you can trust
Our Long Beach California burn injury lawyers at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo will compile a complete team of professionals to help different facets of your case. That team will jointly fight your burn injury case and can include economists, accident reconstructionists, therapists, physicians, and vocational experts.
contact us for a free consultation
Call us today as we are sure you need some concrete answers that our specific to your case. When you call us, we will schedule your free initial consultation and case evaluation. We work on a contingency basis where you will not owe or pay us anything until and unless we win your case. The Long Beach burn injury lawyers at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo happen to be one of the few groups around that still make house calls as we will come to your home or your hospital room if you are unable to come to our office. Most meetings are during the normal hours of Monday through Friday between 8:30am and 5:30pm. By appointment, though, we are more than willing to have the meeting with you on Saturdays, Sundays and in the evening. We are attorneys you can trust and we look forward to helping you heal.
Law Firm of DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo
Long Beach, California
Call us anytime at (562) 372-3960
phone number for poison control
If your burn injury is the result of contact with a corrosive chemical and you think that the chemical may have also been swallowed by you or anyone else, we have provided the Poison Control phone number for you to call right now to get advice and help: 1-800-222-1222.
