Catastrophic injuries are serious injuries that are life-changing for the victim. Injuries to the brain, the spinal cord or the spine can lead to very serious consequences and are considered catastrophic injuries.
Litigating after a catastrophic injury can be fraught with complications: expert witnesses often have to be consulted, and one can be talking to anyone from an architect to an engineer, and from a doctor to a mechanic.
Catastrophic Injuries Often Cause Further Medical Complications.
In addition to the trauma caused by the initial catastrophic injury, victims of such injuries often develop additional medical conditions because of these injuries, and are often not able to return to work. They often require a complete reorganization of their lives, their living situation, their caregiving needs and many other situations.
when a person experiences catastrophic spinal chord injury, there are a number of additional or secondary medical problems that develop as a consequence. Some of the more common ones are cardiovascular problems including pulmonary embolism, orthostatic hypotension, deep vein thrombosis, autonomic dysreflexia, bradycardia, altered thermoregulation, as well as changes in heart function resulting from injury to the sympathetic nervous system.
Often, people who experienced a catastrophic injury also incurred serious facial injuries. The list of additional medical problems that can develop after catastrophic injury includes heterotopic ossification, pulmonary and gastrointestinal problems, osteoporosis, and other pathologic fractures. People with spinal chord injuries frequently die of pneumonia.
Skull fractures, often associated with catastrophic injuries, may cause additional brain damage by lacerating or tearing the tissue of the brain, and can affect walking, recognition, speech, or a number of neurological activities. The resulting neurological deficiencies are often permanent.
Often Only Partial Recovery Is Possible.
Patients often do not make a full recovery, recovering only partially, and need to learn to cope with a whole new set of conditions like paralysis or mental deficiency. Many will require medical care for the rest of their lives. The attorney has to do much research and medical discovery, and attempt to determine how the patient will be functioning 5, 10 even 20 years after the injury.
High Incidence of Divorce and Suicide After Catastrophic Injury.
In the immediate aftermath of the incidence of traumatic injury, people undergo tremendous change in their lives: there is a high incidence of both divorce and suicide in the first year after a catastrophic injury. The incidence of both these events, however, goes down after the initial year.
But there is also a bright side: Catastrophic spinal cord injury patients often improve their education in the ensuing years, and often end up with a higher education level than the average population.
Litigation Funding From Nationwide Litigation Funding.
The litigation process is long. The medical bills are exorbitant. Life has to go on, but a survivor of catastrophic injury usually cannot return to work and so may have no other source of income other than a legal claim. That's where we come in. Non-recourse funding from Nationwide Litigation Funding means money to pay for medical bills and for living while the case drags on. Attorneys rely on non-recourse funding to keep their cash flow going, help keep their clients in good shape, and keep their business going without tying up endless resources in a limited number of cases. Non-recourse funding does not have to be paid back unless the outcome of the case is successful. And with a non-recourse loan, there are no requirements to be met like credit worthiness or employment verification. And there are no monthly payments to make. Also, because we are financed by private investors, personal and medical details do not have to be disclosed as they might be if you were obtaining funds from a bank or publicly-backed institution.
