Key Differences Between Catastrophic Injury Cases and Personal Injury Cases

What Is a Catastrophic Injury?

An injury is considered catastrophic if it has life-changing impacts on a victim and long-term consequences. These injuries can be permanent, or if they are not permanent, take years or an indefinite period to heal. The effects may be long-lasting, as well as emotionally, physically, and financially challenging.

Some indications that an injury may qualify as catastrophic are:

• The injury causes you to be unable to return to work or have gainful employment
• You are unable to physically take care of yourself because of the injury
• The injury has caused a need for ongoing care
• You require medical device assistance, such as a wheelchair
• You have had to make modifications to your home or vehicle to accommodate the effects of your injury
• Your spouse has had to leave his or her job to provide care

There are other considerations that may qualify your injury as severe, such as the type of injury, how severe the pain is, and whether there is personal trauma. A personal injury lawyer will help you understand what constitutes a catastrophic injury and determine what kind of claim you have.

While many injuries can be catastrophic depending on the consequences, there are certain common catastrophic injuries. 

Brain Injuries

These injuries occur when a person receives some form of trauma to the head that leaves a part of the brain damaged. Over 2.4 million people in the United States suffer traumatic brain injuries each year. 

The consequences of a traumatic brain injury can be that a person has difficulty with talking or understanding language, and experiences depression or anxiety. The person may also end up with an inability or reduced ability to use limbs, impaired reasoning and cognitive function, confusion, or reduced concentration and attentiveness.

Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries occur when the spinal cord is damaged. This leads to the nerves responsible for carrying signals between the brain and limbs being unable to work effectively. It leads to loss of use of arms and legs, and may also affect the lungs, gastrointestinal systems, and urinary tract, depending on where the injury happens on the spinal cord.

Spinal cord injuries may lead to tetraplegia, paraplegia, or incomplete motor function. Incomplete motor function is a partial loss of control and sensation in parts of the body below the injury. Tetraplegia, sometimes referred to as quadriplegia, is an inability to move limbs and upper and lower parts of the body. It can, in some cases, include the head, neck, and shoulders. Paraplegia is paralysis in the legs and sometimes parts of the lower abdomen, but not the arms.

Estimates suggest as many as 17,000 people across the U.S. suffer new spinal cord injuries annually. Nationally, these types of injuries cost approximately $9.7 billion each year. The expenses and losses associated with such injuries vary depending on whether the victim suffers tetraplegia, paraplegia, or incomplete motor function.  

Burns

Whether burns are catastrophic depends on the severity. Burns are classified as first-, second-, third-, or fourth-degree, depending on how deeply they penetrate the skin’s surface. First-degree burns are superficial. Second-degree burns impact deeper layers of skin, leaving it red, blistered, swollen, and painful. Third-degree burns are considered full thickness, going to the innermost layer, and leave the area either white or blackened. Fourth-degree burns go to underlying tissue, possibly to muscle and bone. Burns can cause scarring, disfigurement, immobility, nerve damages, and tremendous pain.

Amputation

Amputation is the surgical removal of a limb, possibly because of serious trauma. Amputation may also occur accidentally. It can be a life-changing experience because it can affect your ability to work or maintain your independence.

Vision or Hearing Loss

Vision or hearing loss can be associated with brain injuries, or due to damage to the eyes or ears directly. The loss must be significant to be considered catastrophic, although it does not have to be complete. Hearing or vision loss can negatively impact the ability to communicate effectively, as well as independence and quality of life.

Scarring and Disfigurement

Scarring and disfigurement involves significant and permanent changes to a person’s appearance. This can be a change in skin texture, scarring, or a body part that is differently shaped. It can lead to emotional and psychological distress over time. 

Main Differences Between Catastrophic Injury Cases and Personal Injury Cases

Catastrophic injury claims fall under the umbrella of personal injury claims. While all catastrophic cases are personal injury claims, not all personal injury claims are catastrophic. There are several main differences.

Injury Type

A personal injury case can cover any type of injury, such as whiplash, broken bones, or bruises. Catastrophic injuries are inherently more severe, can’t be immediately corrected, and cause long-term damage. These severe injuries are things such as brain and spinal cord injuries, loss of limb, eye or significant ear injuries, organ damage, multiple bone fractures, or burns with severe scarring.

Post Injury condition and Recovery Time

A personal injury needs time to recover, as well as medical care. While recovery time ranges from weeks to years, the injuries are usually temporary. Catastrophic injuries often lead to permanent disability or an indefinite recovery period. They frequently prevent a person from returning to everyday tasks or activities they once enjoyed.

Long-Term Repercussions

With general personal injury cases, a person is typically able to return to a fairly normal life after recovery. With catastrophic injuries, a person suffers permanent consequences. These may include the partial or total inability to perform occupational functions, inability to exercise, play sports, perform hobbies, or engage in sexual relations. These injuries can also cause loss of senses, paralysis, permanent disfigurement, or mental and cognitive defects.

Types of Compensation

General personal injuries can lead to medical bills and lost wages. Damages in a catastrophic injury case tend to be far higher than normal injuries. This is because medical bills are far more expensive, compensation for loss of earnings can be for a lifelong loss of earning capacity, and housing renovations may be needed to accommodate mobility equipment. 

There may also be significant emotional distress awards in catastrophic injury cases. Damage awards for catastrophic injuries may include compensation for distress due to disfigurement, loss of emotional companionship, or loss of enjoyment of life.

Are Catastrophic Injury Cases Harder to Win?

Since catastrophic injury claims fall under personal injury claims, the same four elements are required to prove your claim. These are:

1. Duty of care: The defendant must have had a duty to exercise reasonable care and avoid actions that could cause harm to the injured person. This is determined by the circumstances of the case, but most people owe a constant duty of care to others to avoid causing injury.
2. Breach of duty: Once the duty of care has been established, it must be proved that the defendant breached this duty, through actions or negligence, in not exercising reasonable care.
3. Causation: Causation is a link between the defendant’s actions, and the injuries suffered. Therefore, the injured person must have suffered injuries as a direct and reasonably foreseeable consequence of the defendant’s actions in breaching his or her duty of care. This can be through direct actions or negligence by the defendant.
4. Damages: The injured person must have suffered monetary loss, such as medical bills and loss of earnings, or damages for pain and suffering, emotional distress, or loss of companionship of friends or partners. If there have not been damages suffered, there is no valid claim.

Catastrophic injuries go beyond normal injury cases in that the damages are far higher, since the consequences may last a lifetime. Because the damages are so high, insurance companies or the defendant will usually be far more aggressive in disputing the claim. A personal injury lawyer in Illinois can help you determine how much to ask for in a personal injury settlement.

Catastrophic injury claims tend to also be more complex, due to their nature, and you will likely need extra evidence from medical, scientific, and rehabilitation experts, accident reconstruction specialists, occupational therapists, and economic experts to prove your claim.

Key differences between catastrophic injury cases and personal injury cases, including the higher stakes, greater damages claimed, and more complex nature, they can be more difficult to win than a normal injury case.