New Jersey Catastrophic Child Injury Attorneys
The kinds of accidents that may cause catastrophic childhood injuries can happen in the midst of daily life. One incident, causing severe injury for a child, can turn into lifelong physical and emotional challenges.
It is a horrifying scene and the worst nightmare for a parent witnessing their child’s catastrophic accident, but catastrophic childhood injuries do not always result from unimaginably hideous events. In fact, life-altering injuries typically result from everyday occurrences like falls, car accidents, and sport or recreational activities. In addition, less mundane incidents of burning, scalding, poisoning, drowning, and choking also end in a child’s physical and psychological injury, sometimes for life. The mere fact that such events happen is horrendous in and of itself, and yet when these accidents result from the negligence of someone else, the reality can be impossible to comprehend.
If the idea that your child’s injuries may have been prevented weren’t bad enough, then you are faced with a mountain of medical bills, missed time from work, as well as providing for your child’s future health, caretaking, and educational needs. You are not alone. New Jersey law provides you and your family with a means by which to hold those parties accountable and obtain the compensation you need now and in the years to come.
Our team of New Jersey catastrophic child injury lawyers is dedicated to assisting children and families coping with the permanent repercussions of severely injured children, as we guide you throughout the legal process. We successfully litigate some of the most challenging childhood injury claims to achieve the highest possible damages for our young clients, offering them the best chance at the life they deserve. If your child sustained a catastrophic injury in an accident and you believe that another party’s negligent conduct was at the source, contact our team today at 866-708-8617 for a cost-free, confidential consultation.
Common Causes of Catastrophic Childhood Injuries
Young children fall off their bikes, heights, and playground equipment. They fall off skates and skateboards and hit their heads or damage their spinal cords from falls. It is one of the top reasons for a hospital visit. A close second is motor vehicle accidents for all children, but the leading cause of catastrophic injury to teens and young adults. Young or older children riding with their parents or on school buses injure their soft tissue, break bones, and suffer cuts and bruises. They also get hit by cars on their bicycles or walking, and sports injuries run rampant in children of all ages. Team or individual sports may cause torn ligaments, broken bones, concussions, and sprains. Some injuries require surgery to repair lumbar herniated discs or ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) tears.
Unfortunately, children do not have to be on a football or soccer field to suffer life-changing injuries. House fires result in traumatizing physical and emotional scars for life. When a young child burns their face or body, even a scalding can produce irreparable damage physically and psychologically. Likewise, children under four years are more likely to poison themselves than other children. They drink household sweet-smelling cleaning products or ingest pharmaceuticals that can cause brain and nervous system injuries requiring ongoing therapies to get through daily activities. Near-drowning, choking, or suffocating also results in brain damage when the child cannot breathe, even for mere minutes. Bathtubs, toys, food, or strings, all household items, can lead to asphyxiation in young children. Some toys or furniture, even car seats, may be defective products that cause injury.
Types of Catastrophic Injuries for Children
Younger children are typically at greater risk of catastrophic injury, but all children can be severely hurt. The most severe injuries affect the brain. Traumatic brain injuries from concussions, even extreme whiplash, can leave children with short-term, long-term, or permanent brain damage, completely altering a child’s life. Some may need help eating, bathing, and clothing themselves. Others may have intellectual disabilities and require special education, tutoring, or speech therapy. Brain injuries affect the nervous system as do spinal cord injuries. Likewise, severe damage to the spine can cause paralysis, in part or whole. The extraordinary force of a car crash or car vs. pedestrian accident can damage a child’s spinal cord ending in permanent disability.
Depending on the area of the body affected, burns and scalds can be horrifyingly painful and disfiguring with long, expensive recovery and rehabilitation. Skin grafts, amputations, breathing problems, and life-threatening infections may result from severe burns or other causes, leaving a child catastrophically and possibly permanently, harmed. Car crashes and fires cause immeasurable damage, and even broken bones can turn tragic when a physician cannot repair a compound fracture, and the break damages nerves or leads to bone infections. Sometimes a child can lose a limb to severe fractures.
Medical Malpractice Resulting in Catastrophic Injury for a Child
While tragic accidents are unavoidable at times, the agony that families suffer is no less from knowing accidents happen. However, unimaginable to most is the catastrophe that arises from a medical professional’s inadequate care while entrusted with a child. Doctors, nurses, paramedics, and other medical personnel may be unconscionably negligent, whether acts or omissions lead to catastrophic childhood injuries. For example, an anesthesiologist’s inattention can lead to their ten-year-old patient’s brain damage during a simple appendectomy. To a parent, this is unfathomable. Children may also fall off examining tables in pediatricians’ offices, surgeons accidentally sever nerves, nurses administer the wrong medication, and obstetricians cause birth injuries. Inattention, fatigue, over-scheduling, arrogance, laziness, and poor communication are leading causes of medical malpractice impacting children. Doctors fail to run tests that they should or follow up with test results. The delay in diagnosis from failing to act responsibly can lead to untreatable cancer, complications from pneumonia or meningitis, or other disabling diseases in children.
What if Someone Else’s Negligence is Responsible for a Child’s Catastrophic Injury?
It is impossible to measure the intense suffering children and their parents endure from catastrophic injuries, and the financial costs are shocking. Treatment and care for extreme injuries can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars annually. The lifetime costs are incomprehensible. However, if someone else caused the injury by their negligence, they should be held responsible for damages they cause. A successful malpractice or personal injury claim includes payment for all medical costs past and future, rehabilitative and therapeutic costs, home care, home and car special accommodations, future lost earnings, and pain and suffering. Moreover, if a child loses their life to a catastrophic injury, their parents may have a wrongful death cause of action against the responsible parties.
How an Attorney can Help if Your Child Suffered Catastrophic Injuries in New Jersey
Childhood injury lawsuits are often expensive, time-consuming, and complicated. Without the education and experience, it can be impossible to successfully resolve a valid cause of action in favor of the child and with true compensation for their needs. Our team of catastrophic childhood injury attorneys has intricate knowledge of the system and what defendants and their representatives often succumb to in an effort to avoid taking responsibility. Having litigated medical malpractice and personal injury lawsuits on behalf of children in court and settling claims with doctors, lawyers, and insurance companies, we know the in’s and out’s of negotiation, persuasion, and this nuanced area of law.
You need an experienced advocate to take you through the process of a claim if your child suffered a catastrophic injury at the hands of one who should know better and acted appropriately to preserve their safety. Connect with an NJ attorney about your child’s injuries and explore your family’s options to pursue compensation. We will review your child’s case free of charge and if representing your child, you pay nothing unless we win. Lawsuits have strict deadlines, are time-consuming, and costly, but your child’s quality of life may depend on a successful claim for damages. Count on our knowledge and background in child injury claims when you need it most. Contact 866-708-8617 for a free consultation.
