San Diego Burn Injury Lawyers
The San Diego California burn injury attorneys at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo have helped burn injury victims win their cases and get their legal maximum compensation since 1979. All burn injuries need comprehensive treatment as soon as possible as burns can get worse if untreated. We are ready to help you if the burn injury has happened while you were working, in a car or motorcycle accident, if you were scalded and burnt by hot coffee, boiling water or hot tea or if any other type of burn injury has occurred. Our injury firm has experience representing all types of burn injury cases from workers’ compensation claims and personal injury cases to work injury cases.
Call Us Today
Be sure to call for medical help if you have had a 2nd or 3rd degree burn. Next, call for a seasoned San Diego burn injury lawyer who knows how to help you legally and who can ensure you are receiving the proper and complete medical attention. You will see from the moment we begin helping you that we are lawyers you can trust. Call us today at (619) 946-6466.
Definition of Burn Injury
Burns can be caused by fire, radiation, heat, chemicals, electricity, or friction. Burns cause over 300,000 deaths annually around the world. Four thousand of those deaths are Americans with around 2,000 being US kids under the age of 15. Burns are classified by how much skin damage there is, how deep they are, and how much damage was caused to surrounding area including the underlying tissues. The exposed areas of our body are the most likely places to be burned including finger burn injuries, feet burn injuries, face burn injuries, knee burn injuries, hand burn injuries, neck burn injuries, and arm burn injuries.
Burned while On The Job
Burns are one injury that most likely still happens to someone working every day. Kitchen and restaurant fires, chemical burns, building fires, and welding burn injuries are just a few examples of work burn injuries. Our firm has been working workers’ compensation (as well as personal injury cases) for burn injuries since the late 1970s so you can trust us to work hard for you.
1st Degree Burn Injuries
Sunburns are the usual example for first degree burns but they can be much worse than the average sunburn. First degree burn injuries are when only the top layer of the skin has been affected. The usual signs include some redness, white plaque, swelling, and pain.
2nd Degree Burn Injuries
Second degree burn injuries are when the burn has gone deeper than just the outermost layer of skin. The burn might have gone as deep as the reticular dermis skin layer. The signs for 2nd degree burns are mild to severe pain, redness, and blistering.
3rd Degree Burn Injuries
Third degree burns are very serious injuries as the burn has injured every skin layer and could have injured the tissue beneath the skin. Third degree burns may not cause pain because they damage the nerves. The burn victim will still be in pain since the majority of 3rd degree burn injuries have 1st or 2nd degree burns surrounding them which are still painful. The signs that it is a 3rd degree burn are a combination of the burned area of the body looking brown, charred, white, or leathery.
Another Classification System
A new system to classify burn injuries has been developed. Doctors approve of it because the burn’s characteristics are part of the name. First degree burns are called Superficial Thickness; second degree burns are called Partial Thickness – Superficial; and third degree burns are named Partial Thickness – Deep. This system has also created a fourth degree burn which refers to Full Thickness burn injuries.
A Law Firm You Can Trust
Our San Diego California burn injury attorneys at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo will compile a full team of professionals to help with your case from both inside and outside our law firm. That team will work diligently for your case and may include economists, physicians, therapists, vocational experts and more.
Burn Injury: Causes
The following are some common causes for burn injuries that we have seen:
- Fire (eg: touching the fireplace or campfire)
- Radiation burns (eg: from sunburns or radiation therapy)
- Electrical burns (eg: electric shocks)
- Scalding (eg: from spilled hot coffee, steam or boiling water)
- Heat burns (eg: hot metals or the stove)
- Chemical burns (eg: strong acids like sulfuric acid)
- Construction Site Accidents
- Work injuries
- Tanning salon overuse or negligence
- Building Fire;
- On The Job Accidents
- Car, SUV and Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Defective Products and
- Welding burn injuries.
TBSA – Total Body Surface Area
Human bodies vary in terms of size, shape, height and weight. TBSA is a calculation technique to estimate just how much total area of the body has been burned. This is used more for burn injuries that are 2nd or 3rd degree. It is called the Rule of 9s. The adult human body has been split into eleven sections. Each section is estimated to be about 9% of the total body surface area. The remaining 1% refers only to burn injuries that happen to the genitals. The eleven sections refer to: abdomen burn injuries, right arm and hand burn injuries, left arm and hand burn injuries, upper back burn injuries, lower back burn injuries, head burn injuries, chest and neck burn injuries, right thigh burn injuries, left thigh burn injuries, left lower leg, calf and foot burn injuries and right lower leg, calf and foot burn injuries.
Burn Injury Treatment
Regardless of whether you have had a toe burn, arm burn, stomach burn, leg burn, head burn, hand burn, thigh burn, neck burn, or a burn anywhere else, you or a friend should contact help right away. Treatments vary depending mainly on the victim’s overall condition (eg: infection or dehydrated), how severe the burn is, the burn’s location, and what other injuries were sustained (eg: broken bones). For burn injuries that are serious, treatments may include the removal of dead skin (debridement), cosmetic surgery, skin grafting, or other types of surgeries for burn injuries.
Critical Areas for Burn Injuries
Some burns are automatically classified as critical just due to the location (as long as they are 2nd or 3rd degree burns). These areas are: a person’s genitals, face or if the burns include full foot burn injuries or full hand burn injuries.
Call Us – Free Initial Consultation
Contact us to schedule a free initial consultation for you and finally get thoughtful answers to your questions and concerns. We work on a contingency basis where you will not be charged anything until and unless we win your case. The San Diego burn injury lawyers at DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo will meet with you in your home or hospital room if you are unable to come to our office. Most meetings are during the normal hours of Monday through Friday between 8:30am and 5:30pm. By appointment, though, we will have the meeting on Saturdays, Sundays and in the evening.
Law Firm of DiMarco | Araujo | Montevideo
San Diego, California ~ (619) 946-6466
