Catastrophic injuries change lives in an instant. Whether it’s a devastating car crash on the I-24 ridge cut or Olgiati Bridge, a severe workplace accident at one of Chattanooga’s manufacturing plants, or a life-altering fall on one of Lookout Mountain’s trails, these injuries often bring permanent challenges—such as paralysis, traumatic brain injuries, or amputations.
Victims may face years of medical care, rehabilitation at Erlanger, CHI Memorial, or Parkridge Medical Center, and the loss of their ability to work or enjoy daily activities. Catastrophic injuries like spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, and amputations affect victims for the rest of their lives.
If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury in Chattanooga, an experienced attorney can fight to secure the financial support you need for long-term recovery and stability.
Suffering from a Life-Changing Injury?
Some injuries affect victims for the rest of their lives, such as spinal cord injuries that cause permanent paralysis or limb amputations. Life-changing injuries like these require long-term medical care and management. Victims may never be able to return to work, and the pain and suffering can be overwhelming.
If you have suffered an incapacitating injury due to someone else’s negligence, recklessness, or criminal actions, you could be entitled to compensation for the various damages you suffered. Contacting a Chattanooga catastrophic injury lawyer can be an important step during this difficult time.
At Gary Massey Injury Lawyers, we have a proven track record of successfully representing clients in catastrophic injury cases, recovering millions on their behalf. Our team is available 24/7, offering free consultations with no upfront fees.
What Is a Catastrophic Injury?
There is no single definition for “catastrophic injury.” Generally, this term refers to serious injuries that require long-term or permanent medical treatment. These injuries also have a lasting effect on the victim’s ability to work.
Common examples of catastrophic injuries include:
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): TBIs result from a sudden blow or jolt to the head.
- Loss of Limbs: This injury occurs when a limb is severed or requires amputation due to severe trauma.
- Paralysis: Paralysis can result from spinal cord or brain damage.
- Disfigurement: Permanent bodily scarring or deformation from burns, deep cuts, or other trauma.
- Development of a Chronic Illness: Long-term exposure to harmful substances or stress leading to conditions like asthma or diabetes.
- Stroke: Occurs when blood flow to a part of the brain is interrupted, causing brain cell damage.
- Spine Injuries: Damage to vertebrae causing chronic pain or immobility.
- Crushed Bones: Severe fractures from heavy impacts or pressure.
- Third-Degree Burns: Severe burns that destroy all layers of the skin.
- Loss of Sight or Hearing: Caused by direct trauma or neurological damage.
- Crush Injuries: Severe damage to muscles, nerves, and tissues due to extreme pressure.
These types of injuries often require extensive medical care, including physical therapy, surgical procedures, medications, and visits to specialists. Injured victims who cannot fully recover may also need expensive in-home care for months or years to come.
What Should I Do After a Catastrophic Injury?
Your actions after suffering a catastrophic injury can significantly impact the outcome of your claim for compensation.
Our Chattanooga personal injury lawyers have compiled a list of steps victims should take to protect their rights:
- Seek Immediate Medical Attention: The sooner you see a doctor, the better. Qualified medical professionals can stabilize your injuries and prevent them from worsening. Local emergency departments that can treat catastrophic injuries include Parkridge Medical Center, Erlanger Hospital, and CHI Memorial Hospital.
- Document Everything: Keep detailed records of your medical treatment, expenses, and any communications related to the accident. If your accident or injury involved the police being dispatched to the scene, you can later request a copy of their accident report through the City of Chattanooga’s website or via the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.
- Report the Incident: Notify relevant authorities, such as the police after a car crash, your employer after a workplace accident, or the property owner in a premises liability case.
- Gather Evidence: Take photographs of the accident scene, obtain witness contact information, and collect any other relevant evidence.
- Avoid Making Statements to Insurers: Refrain from making detailed statements to insurance companies or signing any documents without consulting a lawyer.
- Contact a Chattanooga Catastrophic Injury Lawyer: Reach out to an experienced lawyer to discuss your legal options.
At Gary Massey Injury Lawyers, we are committed to advocating for your rights and helping you achieve the best possible outcome. We represent catastrophic injury victims at no upfront cost.
What Rehabilitation Options Are Available in Chattanooga?
After a catastrophic injury, your recovery doesn’t stop once you leave the hospital. Ongoing rehabilitation is often essential for regaining independence, improving mobility, and adapting to new challenges.
Chattanooga offers a wide range of rehabilitation services designed to meet the physical, cognitive, and emotional needs of injury survivors, including:
- Erlanger Rehabilitation Services specializes in comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care, including physical, occupational, and speech therapy.
- Siskin Hospital for Physical Rehabilitation is one of the region’s leading rehabilitation centers and offers programs for patients recovering from spinal cord injuries, strokes, and traumatic brain injuries.
- CHI Memorial Physical Therapy is conveniently located at the Hamilton Family YMCA and helps people suffering from injuries and disabilities regain independence and function.
For those needing specialized therapies, Chattanooga also has outpatient clinics and community-based programs that provide pain management, vocational training, and adaptive equipment support.
Am I Eligible to File a Lawsuit?
Many injury claims are resolved through a settlement. Your eligibility for an insurance settlement depends on factors such as:
- How your injury occurred
- Evidence of negligence
- Available insurance coverage
Sometimes, it may be necessary to file a lawsuit. You may be eligible for a lawsuit if:
- Your Claim Was Denied: If your insurance claim was unjustly denied.
- The Settlement Offer Is Insufficient: When the insurance company’s offer does not fully cover your losses.
- Bad Faith Practices: If the insurer delays the process or unfairly denies coverage.
- Non-Covered Damages: When certain damages are not covered by insurance, but another party is liable.
- High-Value Claims: If your damages exceed the policy limits.
What Is the Value of a Tennessee Catastrophic Injury Claim?
Those hurt due to someone else’s negligence can sue for personal injury damages with the help of a Chattanooga catastrophic injury lawyer.
Damages fall into two categories:
- Economic Damages: Future medical expenses, loss of earning capacity, rehabilitation costs, home modifications, medical bills, property damage, and lost wages.
- Non-Economic Damages: Compensation for pain and suffering, up to $1 million for catastrophic injuries such as severe spinal cord injuries, amputations, burns, traumatic brain injuries, and wrongful death.
The value of each case depends on the severity of the injury and its impact on the victim’s life. Contact a Chattanooga catastrophic injury lawyer to discuss your claim.
Do I Still Need to Seek Attention for a Spinal Cord Injury if I Feel Okay?
Spinal cord injury treatment should usually start at an emergency room or at a doctor’s office. After that, a victim should be seen for significant injuries by a specialist, either an orthopedic surgeon specializing in spinal cord injuries or a neurosurgeon specializing in spinal cord injuries.
A spinal cord injury can change over a period of time, up to three weeks or so, if there is trauma to the back. The muscles around the back swell and protect the spinal cord, the vertebrae, and the soft tissues in the back initially.
However, as the swelling relaxes over the following days or weeks, the injury can be seen and felt, and the person realizes they have a severe injury when, on the day of the event, they did not believe they were injured at all. It’s also important to note that a person with a spinal cord injury needs daily treatment and almost always has to have the help of family members or other people living in their house, and so there is a new responsibility given to other people to help the injured victim.
This does not just impact the injured victim, but also places responsibility on the family members, and has a traumatic financial influence if the person who is hurt is one of the breadwinners of the family. The priority of the person’s treatment is exceptionally high because without it, they cannot get better, and therefore, everything else in life seems to take a back seat.
What Compensation Is Available for My Spinal Cord Injury?
Following a spinal cord injury, the family might be entitled to reimbursement of expenses for a person’s treatment. Also, family members who do the work of caregivers can seek compensation for the cost or the value of that service if they had to hire someone to perform the same duties.
This cost could then be included in the Chattanooga spinal cord injury damages. There can be other types of damages for a person’s loss of contribution to the family, such as a loss of family income because the family members had to take time off work to provide care.
There is also loss of consortium for what the injured family member would have contributed to the family, such as the money they could have made at work, the services that they would have provided (the chores and the work that they would have performed in the household), and the damage to the family’s ability to enjoy life would also be included.
What Should I Know About Catastrophic Burn Injuries?
Burn injuries are among the most painful and debilitating catastrophic injuries a person could face. Burns could be the result of fire, chemicals, or even radiation.
To serve as grounds for a burn injury lawsuit, a burn must be severe enough to interrupt a person’s quality of life for more than a few weeks. A victim must either need extensive medical treatment, or have a scar or have some ongoing inability to live normally for a period of several months for a burn to rise to the level of a lawsuit.
There are various types of burns. Sometimes a burn can happen just from friction or even frostbite from cold. Something like frostbite can cause an actual burn. Most burns are caused by fire, hot objects, chemicals, and, in rare cases, radiation. Regardless of the burn’s cause, they will be placed into one of three categories.
First-Degree Burns
First-degree burns are the least severe burns. They generally only affect the outer layer of the skin, causing redness. They are painful and they will swell, but they do not go below to the lower layers of the skin or cause permanent damage.
Second-Degree Burns
Superficial second-degree burns are burns that go below the top layer of skin but do not go all the way below the second layer of skin. A second-degree burn affects the underlying layer of skin and can cause blistering. However, a deep second-degree burn extends below the second layer of skin but not all the way through the skin layers.
Third-Degree Burns
Third-degree burns affect the deepest layers of skin. Sometimes they are called full-thickness burns, and they change the color of the skin, generally making it white or black. A third-degree burn goes all the way to the bottom of all the skin layers, potentially requiring extensive reconstructive surgery or skin grafts.
A severe burn could have many significant effects. A severe burn can cause the loss of a limb. Some clients have lost hands through burning, or face partial paralysis through the loss of muscle function from burns.
Experienced Chattanooga Catastrophic Injury Lawyers Ready to Help
Catastrophic injuries can have far-reaching effects on your life and your loved ones. Understanding your legal rights is essential for securing the compensation you need to move forward. Gary Massey Injury Lawyers provides experienced legal representation and compassionate support to injury victims.
There are no upfront fees for our services. If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury, contact us today to schedule your free consultation.
