Injuries

Personal Injury Is Serious

Personal injury has become a significant problem in the United States, with injuries happening every day. A personal injury is any harm done to your body, mind, or emotions; it does not include damage to your property. ⁽¹⁾

Data indicates there were over 167,000 preventable deaths and 46.5 million injuries in 2018, according to the National Safety Council (NSC). ⁽²⁾

The NSC also estimates 3 people die while 885 people suffer preventable, severe injuries every 10 minutes. ⁽³⁾

Places Injuries Occur

Personal injuries can happen at home, at work, at an entertainment or sports venue, or even at the home of a friend.

They can also happen on a city street, on public transportation, or in a medical setting.

In fact, an injury can happen almost anywhere.

Types of Injury

The types of personal injury are as varied as the places where these injuries occur.

Here are some of the personal injuries occurring:

• Abdominal injury — Up to 10% of abdominal injuries prove fatal. ⁽⁴⁾
• Brain injury — Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death. There are 190 TBI-related deaths per day in the U.S. ^{(5) (6)}
• Burn injury — Burn injuries frequently result from fires, killing one person every 2-3 hours and injuring someone every 40 minutes. ⁽⁷⁾
• Chest injury — Mortality rates can be as high as 60%, and chest trauma is responsible for 20–25% of deaths in patients with multiple traumas. ⁽⁸⁾
• Dog bites — Approximately 4.7 million people are bitten by dogs each year and nearly 800,000 need medical care. ⁽⁹⁾
• Drowning — There was an average of around 4,300 unintentional drownings each year between 2018 and 2021. ⁽¹⁰⁾
• Electrocution — About 1,000 people a year are killed by electrocution. ⁽¹¹⁾

Additional common types of personal injuries include:

• Nursing home abuse — Every year, up to 5 million elderly people are abused physically, psychologically, emotionally, financially, or sexually. ⁽¹²⁾
• Limb amputation — Roughly 185,000 amputations take place each year. ⁽¹³⁾
• Paralysis — Almost 5.4 million people are living with paralysis. ⁽¹⁴⁾
• Severe fractures — An overall increase in fracture rates of 11% happened between 1989-91 and 2009-2011. ⁽¹⁵⁾
• Spinal injury — Nearly 18,000 new cases of spinal injury occur each year. ⁽¹⁶⁾
• Wrongful death — There were over 167,000 unintentional injury deaths in 2018. ^{(17) (18)}

No matter where they occur, the damage from personal injuries can be severe and have long-term consequences. Yet, the causes of such injuries are varied and often preventable.

What Causes Personal Injuries?

With 29.4 million unintentional injuries requiring emergency room medical attention in one year, it is easy to see how prevalent serious personal injury has become. ⁽¹⁹⁾

Causes of personal injury can range from accidents to medical mistakes to dangerous or defective products to negligence.

Accidents

Accidents are a very common cause of personal injury. They often cause injuries that require medical attention.

Construction

Work related accidents are a concern, especially accidents at construction sites. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports, “one in five worker deaths” in 2019 were in construction. These incidents often involved falls, getting struck by an object, electrocution, or being caught in or between mechanisms such as elevator shafts and cars. ⁽²⁰⁾

Transportation

Personal injuries have occurred on every mode of transportation, such as:

• Trains.
• Subways.
• Buses.
• Taxis.
• Limousines.
• Ferries.
• Motor vehicles.

In fact, motor vehicle accidents have long ranked among the most common and deadliest transportation accidents. Every year in the United States, about three million people are nonfatally injured in motor vehicle crashes. ⁽²¹⁾ More than 100 people die every day in the US from motor vehicle crashes. ⁽²²⁾

It is also common for people to be injured while riding on bicycles or scooters, or even just walking on the sidewalk.

Pools and Recreation

Pools and other recreational facilities not properly maintained or not providing adequate supervision can increase the risks of accidents and lead to deaths or injuries. Injuries at pools and recreational facilities often include slips and falls, drownings, electrocutions, and even lightning strikes.

Medical Mistakes

Personal injury can also result from medical mistakes made during treatment, procedures, or surgeries. A study found there were as many as 251,000 deaths annually due to medical errors in the U.S. ⁽²³⁾

Dangerous or Defective Products

Dangerous or defective products on the market can cause serious injuries, including fatalities. This is especially true with respect to medical devices.

For example, hip implant devices have led to complications because manufacturers may bring new hip implants to market without adequate evaluation for safety.

Likewise, combat earplugs issued to servicemen may fail to perform correctly, resulting in hearing loss.

Negligence

Negligence is key in personal injury cases. Negligence can result in serious, even life-threatening injuries.

It may be a premises liability case where the owner of a property fails to foresee a potential harm and take steps to prevent it. Or a nursing home fails to provide adequate care to patients.

What To Do If You Have Been Injured

If you have suffered a serious personal injury, the very first thing you should do is seek medical attention. This cannot be stressed enough.

Even if your injuries are not life-threatening, proper medical attention can establish a prognosis. And don’t forget, medical records not only serve as proof of your injuries, but also your expenses.

Your next step should be to consult with an attorney. An attorney helps you deal with insurance companies, prepares and files a lawsuit, negotiates a settlement, and provides representation in court.

Other actions your attorney takes on your behalf:

• Investigates your case.
• Puts together a demand package for negotiating a settlement.
• Represents you in mediation.
• If necessary, handle the appeals process.

Why File a Personal Injury Lawsuit

The primary reason for filing a personal injury lawsuit is to obtain compensation for your injuries.

As a result of your injuries, you may be faced with mounting medical bills, loss of wages or possibly your job, and even long-term financial instability. Not only that, but you may experience mental or emotional hardship.

Individuals and businesses have a duty to consider the safety of others. If they do not take reasonable care, they can be held liable for damages. A lawsuit holds the responsible group accountable.

Getting Compensation for Your Injuries

If someone, or a corporation, is responsible for harm done to you, Weitz & Luxenberg may be able to help you gain the compensation you deserve.

This compensation can be vital if your injuries are serious, require a lengthy recovery time, or have long-term consequences.

Compensation can help cover your medical expenses, your time off from work and also make up for some of the pain and suffering you have endured.

This payment may also help you recover from the psychological and emotional trauma of coping with your injuries.

How W&L Can Help

Weitz & Luxenberg has years of experience with personal injury cases and is a nationally recognized firm. Our attorneys have successfully negotiated large settlements and won millions of dollars in verdicts for our clients.

These cases highlight some of our successes:

• W&L negotiated a confidential multimillion dollar settlement for a man left with a traumatic brain injury after a fall from an apartment building walkway.
• W&L secured a verdict of over $20 million in a hit-and-run case leaving the victim paralyzed from the chest down.
• W&L landed a major settlement when falling luggage injured an airplane passenger.