Car accidents – along with other kinds of accidents – often leave their victims with serious injuries that have significant negative consequences in their lives. When such accidents cause catastrophic injuries, however, the impact is so significant that the injured party can suffer a long-term or permanent disability. Catastrophic injuries, in other words, often alter the course of victims’ lives and can even upend the lives of their loved ones. If someone else’s negligence leaves you with a catastrophic injury, consult with a skilled Central Texas personal injury attorney today.
Catastrophic Injuries
A catastrophic injury can lead to a physical deformity, a physical incapacity, and/or to an emotional deficit. For an injury to reach the level of catastrophic, it usually incorporates a loss of motor skills to at least some degree. Many people never recover from catastrophic injuries, or they obtain only partial recovery. Catastrophic injuries often preclude sufferers from returning to work – sometimes permanently. Further, catastrophic injuries can be so invasive that they leak into every facet of victims’ lives. This sometimes means that the victims’ support systems – family members, friends, and loved one – also become overwhelmed by the process. All told, the negative consequences of a catastrophic injury are difficult to overstate.
Common Forms of Catastrophic Injuries
A catastrophic injury can come in nearly any form, but there are certain kinds of injuries that are often classified as catastrophic:
Traumatic Brain Injuries
While traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) can range from fairly mild to extremely serious, a serious TBI is often classified as a catastrophic injury. TBIs are caused by either a blow to the head or by the extreme shaking of the head on the neck, and the results are as unpredictable as they are serious. Many sufferers describe the effects as an altered sense of self, which is not only terrifying for the victim but can also be alienating to those who help support him or her.
Spinal Cord Injuries
Significant injuries to the spinal cord, which are not uncommon in serious car accidents, can lead to partial or complete paralysis. Such an injury has obviously catastrophic ramifications.
Loss of Limb
The effect of losing a limb has not only devastating physical but also emotional consequences.
These are classified as catastrophic injuries because of the magnitude of their effects. Catastrophic injuries have overarching negative consequences that infiltrate nearly every aspect of their sufferers’ lives.