How a Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Can Help You Recover After a Life-Changing Injury

While many personal injury victims can come out of their accident to live a fairly normal life, some injuries are so catastrophic that they can change a life forever. No one should ever have to suffer through an injury like this, but when accidents like these happen, it’s incredibly important to contact an experienced catastrophic injury lawyer who can help you get compensation for your losses. 

Whether you are a recent victim of a catastrophic accident or you know someone who needs help with theirs, here is everything you need to know about catastrophic injuries and the many ways a personal injury lawyer can help.

What is a Catastrophic Injury?

There are many different types of personal injuries, but catastrophic injuries are by far the worst. While most personal injuries involve some sort of necessary medical care to recover, the vast majority of the most common types of personal injuries allow their victims to make full recoveries given enough time. 

Catastrophic injuries, on the other hand, are much worse. These types of injuries are often life-threatening, but if the patient is able to survive, they often aren’t able to live their life like they did before. 

Most catastrophic injuries have permanent consequences, with some common examples including brain damage that causes cognitive impairment, spinal injuries that cause paralysis or limited mobility, severe burns, and injuries that require amputations.

How an Experienced Catastrophic Injury Lawyer Can Help You After a Life-Changing Injury

Catastrophic injuries are always incredibly traumatic, leaving their victims with severe emotional distress and long-lasting physical disabilities. While it can be difficult to see the silver lining in these types of situations, there are a number of ways that a catastrophic injury lawyer may be able to help.

Case Assessment

A catastrophic injury lawyer is a legal professional who specializes in life-changing personal injury cases. This means that they won’t just have all the necessary expertise to provide excellent legal advice, but they also have a ton of prior experience that allows them to properly assess your case. 

All of this knowledge and expertise can go a long way to helping you determine the best course of action forward as well as the precise amount of damages you are owed based on your estimated medical expenses, the emotional trauma you’ve endured, and the long-term impact the injury will have on your life.

Case Investigation

Catastrophic injury lawyers can also help investigate your specific case while you focus on recovering. Every personal injury case requires evidence to back up the victim’s claims, and if you are unable to gather sufficient evidence, you aren’t likely to get much, if any, compensation at all. 

Catastrophic injury lawyers are experts in case investigation and can help you by interviewing witnesses, examining medical records, and identifying any and all parties who may be at fault.

a closeup of the aftermath of a car accident that caused a catastrophic injury

Negotiation With Insurance Companies

Insurance companies can be a huge pain to deal with, and while they often offer victims a settlement right off the bat, this initial settlement offer is usually much less than what the victim deserves. 

Insurance companies don’t stay in business by handing every catastrophic injury victim the maximum compensation, and they will do everything in their power to ensure that your settlement is as small as possible. 

Catastrophic injury lawyers know this, and they have all the tools and experience to negotiate a fair and just settlement that takes every single factor of your injury into account.

Access to Expert Medical Resources

Catastrophic injury cases often require expert testimony from medical professionals to fully assess the severity of injuries and the long-term ramifications that come along with them. 

An expert catastrophic injury lawyer won’t just have plenty of experience making these assessments themselves. They also have access to expert consultation from doctors and rehabilitation specialists who can assess your injuries as accurately as possible.

Providing Emotional Support

Recovering from a catastrophic injury takes a lot of time, energy, and patience, and piling all of the stress that comes along with legal proceedings, paperwork, and settlement negotiations on top of that is simply too much for any single person to handle. 

While you may not initially think of a lawyer as someone who can provide emotional support, they’ve dealt with cases like these countless times before and know the psychological toll that it can take on their clients. They’ll do everything they can to ensure that you and your case are well taken care of, so that you can focus entirely on recovering as fully and quickly as possible. 

Maximizing Compensation

It is completely possible to file a catastrophic injury lawsuit by yourself, but if you want to get the maximum compensation possible for your injury, you’re always much better off hiring an experienced lawyer. 

A catastrophic injury lawyer will have a good idea of the compensation that you are owed immediately after reviewing your case, and they have the knowledge and expertise to know how to ensure that you get every penny of the maximum compensation that you deserve after going through such a traumatic, life-changing experience.

a closeup of a catastrophic injury lawyer shaking hands with their client

Contact HoeyLegal Today

Are you a recent victim of a catastrophic injury? Are you looking for a Newtown Square personal injury lawyer that you can trust to get you the compensation you deserve? Give HoeyLegal a call.

HoeyLegal is the leading personal injury lawyer in Chester County, specializing in motor vehicle accidents, slips and falls, medical malpractice, and many more. We even offer free legal consultations so that you can get the expert legal advice you need before you ever have to worry about footing the bill.

Here at HoeyLegal, we understand just how life-changing a catastrophic injury can be. We believe that no one should have to go through such a traumatic experience alone, and with HoeyLegal on your side, you won’t have to. Contact HoeyLegal and get the trusted advocate you need to fight for you today!

Distracted Driving

Pennsylvania defines distracted driving as “an activity that could divert a person’s attention away from the primary task of driving.” Drivers have to focus on driving, so they can react to the information on the road, such as road conditions, hazards and other drivers. Distracted drivers do not react appropriately and thus put others at risk for severe injury or death. Examples of distractions, besides using cell phones and texting, include drinking, eating, adjusting the radio, adjusting climate controls, adjusting seats, combing hair, putting on make-up, daydreaming, reaching for dropped items, engaging in heavy conversations, and focusing on events outside of the car.

Driving Under the Influence

Driving under the influence typically refers to alcohol use, but drug use can also impair drivers and cause severe car accidents.  In either situation, enjoying cocktails at happy hour, celebrating with drugs or alcohol, drinking too much wine for dinner and unwinding after a long week at work results in too many motorists driving under the influence.  Controlled substances impact each person differently, making it common for someone to misjudge his or her level of impairment.  These poor judgments can lead to severe and sometimes fatal car accidents.

Driver Fatigue

Driving without enough sleep is commonplace for many in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and across the nation. Truck drivers, shift workers, and those with sleep disorders are most vulnerable to causing an accident because they are drowsy or fatigued. Not having enough rest slows down reaction time and impairs the senses. In fact, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) claims that eighteen (18) hours without sleep impairs a driver to the same extent as someone who has a 0.08 blood or breath alcohol concentration after consuming alcohol.

Speeding

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates that one-third of all car accidents involve speeding. Drivers who rush, run late, or simply lack patience may choose to speed when they get behind the wheel. Speeding makes it more likely that a driver will lose control of his or her vehicle and makes it more difficult to react to road hazards and other vehicles. Speeding also increases the impact of a car accident and makes it far less likely that a negligent driver may maintain control of his vehicle sufficient to prevent a collision. High speed car accidents make it far more likely that those involved will suffer severe injuries or death.

OBTAIN NECESSARY COURT ORDERS TO PRESERVE EVIDENCE

At HoeyLegal, we know from our litigation experience that tractor-trailer drivers often operate at least one cellular phone which is in use at, during, or immediately prior to a tractor-trailer accident. Additionally, most tractor-trailers are equipped with data recorders which capture, in real-time, important vehicle operation events including speed, hard braking and other evasive maneuvers taken by the operator and the tractor-trailer.  It is imperative that this evidence be obtained before it is destroyed.  At HoeyLegal, our trial attorneys will obtain any necessary court order to preserve this evidence for trial.

IDENTIFY ALL AT-FAULT DEFENDANTS

Oftentimes, there are several defendants responsible for the tractor-trailer accident. In most cases, at least two defendants are responsible for the ownership and operation of the tractor-trailer.  There may be additional defendants responsible for the hiring and retention of the tractor-trailer driver.  At HoeyLegal, our investigators will promptly identify the responsible defendants and immediately request the preservation of all evidence related to the hiring and retention of the driver, inspection of the vehicles and the supervision and drug/alcohol testing of the vehicle operator.

LOCATE, EXAMINE AND INSPECT THE TRACTOR-TRAILER

Our accident investigators include mechanics who will immediately respond to the accident site and the location where the truck has been impounded in order to photograph the truck and conduct necessary mechanical inspections of the vehicle. In the event that a court order is necessary to examine and inspect the trucks, HoeyLegal Attorneys will promptly file the necessary motions to enable the HoeyLegal mechanics and inspectors to conduct a prompt evaluation of the mechanical function of the at-fault tractor-trailer

ACCIDENT RECONSTRUCTION

Our expert accident investigators include former Pennsylvania State Police accident investigators and nationally recognized engineers who will carefully photograph the accident scene and conduct all necessary measurements of skid marks, yaw marks, displacement of debris and thoroughly examine the accident site to preserve all evidence for the time of trial.

INTERVIEW ALL WITNESS

Our investigators will promptly interview and record all witnesses that observed the accident and collect all biographical information from the witnesses so they will available to testify on your behalf at trial.

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