What is Considered a Catastrophic Injury in Oklahoma Law?

Serious injuries are always possible after a slip and fall, car crash, or other type of accident. Catastrophic injuries are a subset of serious injuries that are exceedingly rare, but permanently life-changing. When a victim is left with permanent physical or mental harm due to another person’s negligence, they often have legal options. While financial compensation can never take them back to what life was like before their accident, it may at least be able to give them the money they need to live a full and independent life.

If you or someone you love has suffered a catastrophic injury, it’s time to figure out what comes next. Call Cunningham & Mears to set up a consultation with a catastrophic injury lawyer right away.

Defining “catastrophic injury”

A catastrophic injury is one that is severe enough to leave someone with a permanent or long-term disability that results in significant impacts to their life. So while a clean bone break that heals with a cast after six weeks wouldn’t be a catastrophic injury, multiple crushed bones that cause permanent paralysis would be a catastrophic injury. Catastrophic injuries are often marked by:

• Permanent functional disability that prevents a patient from returning to work, fulfilling the tasks they were responsible for prior to the accident, and living independently
• Permanent pain or loss of sensation which generally impacts an individual’s quality of life
• Need for ongoing medical care that can cause significant financial distress for a victim

The term catastrophic is used very intentionally to explain specific types of injuries. Someone with a catastrophic injury will likely spend the rest of their lives dealing with the far-reaching consequences of it.

Common types of catastrophic injuries

While there are many types of catastrophic injuries, many fall into a handful of categories. These include:

• Traumatic brain injury: This is an injury that may or may not fall into catastrophic territory. Mild TBIs pass with rest and minimal medical intervention. However, those whose injuries fall on the moderate-to-severe side of the scale may find their lives changed forever. Serious TBIs can cause permanent loss of physical function, personality changes, loss of memory and reasoning skills, loss of speech, and an inability to live independently.
• Spinal cord injury: Damage to the spinal cord can impact every part of the body, depending where on the spine the injury occurs. A complete spinal cord injury fully severs the connection between the brain and the rest of the body, while an incomplete spinal cord injury leaves the connection partially intact. The higher on the spine the injury occurs, the more of the body is paralyzed or affected by the injury.
• Amputation: Whether an amputation occurs naturally via a crash or surgically because the affected limb is beyond saving, a patient will undoubtedly suffer trauma. Phantom limb pain is a potential outcome, and the job of adjusting to a prosthetic is essentially a full-time job. The psychological fallout of an amputation can be just as damaging and painful as the physical fallout.
• Severe burns/disfigurement: Severe burns can leave large parts of the body with limited or no mobility, extreme pain and tightness of the skin, and physical disfigurements that cause mental anguish and trauma. These types of injuries often require surgeries, skin grafts, and years of recovery.
• Loss of vision or hearing: The permanent loss of a sense is undoubtedly catastrophic. While an individual can learn to navigate the world without a sense, their understanding of the world will forever be changed—and so will how they experience it.

Consequences and impact of catastrophic injuries

The long-term impact of a catastrophic injury is immeasurable when you’re first going through it. In the beginning, it’s often a matter of just surviving each day—but as the months and weeks pass, it becomes clear that the long-term consequences will cost a lot in terms of money, time, and mental wellbeing.

First, you have to consider the financial cost of medical treatment for a catastrophic injury. Even just stabilizing a patient and keeping them alive while their body heals can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills. As they recover, surgical treatment, medication, physical therapy, and other forms of treatment further pile on to the medical debt. What makes this so painful is that there’s likely no end to the medical expenses for someone with a catastrophic injury. These expenses will continue to pop up for the rest of their life.

Someone with a catastrophic injury will also likely be unable to work—and if they are able to work, it’s generally for much less time or in a reduced role, resulting in less compensation. This can be financially devastating for a family, particularly with many families in America living paycheck to paycheck.

These injuries come with substantial mental trauma, both for the victim and their close loved ones. Spouses and children may find that their roles within the family have completely changed, which is why mental health treatment is often beneficial for everyone affected by a catastrophic injury. The patient is likely to go through a significant period of grief, where they learn to let go of the life they once had and accept their new normal. This time period may result in changing relationships, as a patient is likely to need significant support from their loved ones.

Choose Cunningham & Mears for your catastrophic injury claim

If you or someone close to you has suffered a catastrophic injury, you could be entitled to compensation. It’s crucial to work with a lawyer with extensive experience in this area of law—these injuries are incredibly expensive, and securing fair compensation can be an uphill battle. Call us or reach out online to discuss your options now.