Each year, 1.1 million people in the United States suffer burn injuries that require medical attention. About 45,000 of these injuries are so severe that they require hospitalization. Burn injuries directly cause approximately 4,500 deaths per year while infections caused by burn injuries kill as many as 10,000 people per year. Burn injuries damage the skin, which is the largest organ in the human body. The skin serves as a protective barrier against pathogens and helps protect internal organs and tissues from water loss due to evaporation. Skin damaged by a burn injury leaves the body open to short-term complications such as dehydration, infection, hypothermia, and damage to internal organs. Burns can also cause long-term complications including severe physical and emotional scarring. Burn Injuries Defined
A burn is damage to the skin or other body parts caused by extreme heat, flame, contact with heated objects, chemicals, electricity, sunlight, or radiation. Common causes of burns include hot or boiling water (scalds) and flammable liquids and gases that ignite or explode. Burn injuries are categorized by “degree” or severity: -
First-degree: damage to only the outer layer (the epidermis) of the skin. An example would be a minor sunburn. -
Second-degree: damage to the epidermis and the layer of skin beneath it (the dermis). Scalding commonly results in second-degree burns. -
Third-degree: damage or complete destruction of the skin to its full depth and damage to underlying tissues. People who experience such burns often require skin grafting.This type of burn frequently results from flame or contact injuries. -
Fourth-degree: destruction of both the epidermis and dermis and damage to the underlying tendons, bone, fat tissue and muscle. High-voltage electrical injuries may result in a fourth-degree burn. Fire and Inhalation Injuries
Burn victims who also suffer from smoke inhalation have a higher rate of death than those who were merely burned. According to the United States Fire Association, seventy-five percent of all fire-related deaths are attributable to inhalation of smoke and toxic gases produced by a fire. Burns caused by the flames accounted for only one-fourth of all such deaths. Smoke inhalation injures a person in the following three ways: -
Pulmonary Irritation: Over one hundred known toxic substances are present in burn smoke. These toxins can cause direct tissue injury, inflammation, and abnormal contraction of the smooth muscle of the bronchi which constricts and obstructs the respiratory airway (bronchospasm). -
Asphyxiation: Fire in a closed space may significantly decrease the concentration of oxygen that is breathed in, which can lead to a shortage of oxygen in the body (hypoxia). -
Thermal Damage: Heat inhalation occurs when one directly breathes in a heat or flame source. Legal Issues Related to Burn Injuries Burn injuries are often caused by negligence or a defective product. Negligence: Negligence is a legal doctrine used to compensate a person for injuries caused by another person's failure to act with reasonable care. To be found negligent, a plaintiff must prove that the defendant breached a duty owed to the plaintiff, and that breach caused the plaintiff's injuries. In most cases, a person must exercise the same level of care as a reasonable person would exercise under similar circumstances (the reasonable person standard). Defective Products: Burns can also be caused by defective products. A product may be defectively designed or manufactured in such a way that it is unreasonably dangerous. A manufacturer or vendor may be held liable for damages caused by the defect. A product liability claim may be brought against any member of the distribution chain of a dangerous or defective product, including the designer, manufacturer, supplier of component parts, the wholesaler, and the retail store that sold the product. Statute of Limitations Statutes of limitations restrict the amount of time a plaintiff has file a lawsuit. In California, the statute of limitations for negligence is two years. However, if your injury was caused by a public entity such as a city or county government, California law requires that you file a claim with the appropriate government agency within six months from the date of the injury. The statute of limitations for product liability cases in California is two years. The statute of limitations begins to run when the plaintiff has knowledge of the injury and suspects wrongdoing. The existence of such knowledge is a factual determination for a jury to decide. To do so, a jury will consider the facts of the case and decide when the plaintiff had actual knowledge of the injury. If the plaintiff did not have actual knowledge, then the jury must decide when a reasonable person “should have known” or suspected wrongdoing. For a wrongful death action, California law requires a plaintiff to bring a cause of action within two years of accrual. For this sort of action, the date of accrual is the date of death. However, if the plaintiff is under the age of eighteen (a minor), the statute of limitations is tolled (suspended) until the plaintiff's eighteenth birthday. If you or a loved one are injured by somebody's negligence or by a defective product, you must contact an attorney immediately to preserve your legal rights. Once the statute of limitations has passed, a lawsuit cannot be filed. An experienced attorney will act quickly to investigate the facts of an accident, secure evidence which otherwise could be lost or destroyed, and take statements from witnesses who could disappear or whose memories could fade. Workers Compensation and Industrial Accidents Many burn injuries are the result of industrial accidents at the workplace. California’s Workers’ Compensation Act provides the following benefits to workers who have been injured on the job: - Payment of medical expenses
- Disability payments
- Vocational rehabilitation payments
- If the employee’s injuries are fatal, payment of death benefits and reasonable burial expenses
Under California law, employers are responsible for an employee’s injuries occurring on the job without regard to the employee’s carelessness or fault. However, California law also provides that employees receiving Workers’ Compensation benefits cannot recover from the employer in any legal action other than Workers’ Compensation (subject to the exceptions mentioned below). Cal Lab Code § 3601. However, California Workers Compensation laws do allow an employee to sue an employer for intentional acts that injure the employee and for injuries caused by hazardous conditions known to the employer to be dangerous to the employee. For example, one employer knew that its employees were continually being exposed to asbestos and never warned the employees that they were risking injuries, disease and death. The employer also did nothing to remove the asbestos or remove the employees from the hazardous area. Such willful misconduct is not shielded by California Workers' Compensation laws, and such employers can be sued directly by their injured employees. Workers Compensation laws only preclude lawsuits against employers. Suits against third parties are not precluded. If a party other than the employer is responsible or partially responsible for an employee's injuries, the employee may be entitled to recover from those other parties. This is referred to as a “third party claim.” Unlike a Workers’ Compensation claim, where the employee is entitled to recover only part of their losses, in a third party claim the employee may potentially recover the full range of damages available in a tort claim, including compensation for disfigurement, pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and emotional distress. |
