Permanent Injuries At The Workplace

March 20, 2020

Permanent Injuries At The Workplace

Construction worker lying on the ground in a trench, possibly injured, with a blue hard hat and orange vest.

When you go to work, you might not expect to end up in the emergency room with severe injuries. Even if you work in a high-risk industry, such as construction, you might believe that safety standards and practices will protect you from injuries. However, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) reports that about 2.8 million people suffered nonfatal job-related injuries and illnesses in a single year in the United States.

Some work-related injuries are relatively minor, and you can recover with a short course of medical treatment and some rest. On the other hand, some people have their lives permanently changed by a workplace accident, as they will feel the effects of their injuries for the rest of their lives.

Injuries that Cause Permanent Impairment
There are a variety of injuries common in work accidents that can result in permanent disabilities and impairments. Such injuries can include the following:

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) - Trauma to the head can result in a severe TBI, which can lead to a coma and the need for intensive care. Once a victim of a severe TBI wakes up, they will likely face many impairments, which can be cognitive, physical, and/or behavioral. Many TBI victims are never the same and cannot return to their previous jobs.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) - In some accidents, a person’s spinal cord might be completely severed or damaged, cutting off signals from the brain to the parts of the body below the point of injury. “Complete” spinal injury can result in permanent paralysis, which involves the loss of sensation and movement ability in your limbs, as well as the possible loss of organ function.

Amputation - Traumatic amputations can happen in workplace accidents, and in some situations, medical professionals might not be able to reattach the severed body part. Surgical amputations might also be needed after crush injuries or severe burns. Losing a body part will change the way you live your life, and you might need to relearn many daily tasks or activities. While there are state-of-the-art prosthetics available, they are costly and need to be regularly replaced.

Burn injuries - Third or fourth-degree burns damage all the layers of your skin, as well as tissue under the skin. These severe burns are extraordinarily painful and come with a high risk of infections, sepsis, or other complications. Many victims need to spend weeks or months in a burn center for monitoring and treatment, which can include numerous skin grafts and other painful procedures. Burns can leave people with permanent disfigurement and the loss of the use of certain body parts.

Contact an Alabama Workers’ Compensation Attorney for the Help You Need
Workplace injury cases involving permanent injuries can be highly complex. It is essential to have the right injury lawyer helping you receive workers’ compensation benefits for disabilities, as well as compensation from any third parties who caused the accident. Attorney Matt Matthews represents clients with life-altering injuries, so please call our office today at 334-398-8408 or contact us online for a free case evaluation.

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The information you obtain at this site is not, nor is it intended to be, legal advice. You should consult an attorney for advice regarding your individual situation. We invite you to contact us and welcome your calls, letters and electronic mail. Contacting us does not create an attorney-client relationship. Please do not send any confidential information to us until such time as an attorney-client relationship has been established. These recoveries and testimonials are not an indication of future results. Every case is different, and regardless of what friends, family, or other individuals may say about what a case is worth, each case must be evaluated on its own facts and circumstances as they apply to the law. The valuation of a case depends on the facts, the injuries, the jurisdiction, the venue, the witnesses, the parties, and the testimony, among other factors.

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