As Daytona Beach personal injury attorneys at Zimmet & Zimmet, the clients we work with contact us after suffering a range of different injuries. Over 40 years, our attorneys have become familiar with common personal injuries caused by negligence and have the resources needed to help victims seek justice. The clients we serve are comforted by the fact we have dealt with many of these injuries previously because this means we understand how to pursue damages for the financial and medical problems that victims encounter while they rebuild and recuperate from an accident. Our firm has a proven track record of securing compensation for clients in the state of Florida for many kinds of injuries. Below, we concentrate on the main injury groups most regularly sustained by our clients.
Injuries to the Brain
The human brain controls the function of several organs in the body, along with the movement of the legs and arms. For this reason, brain injuries can have a serious and unexpected impact on victims. Examples include long term emotional, cognitive and physical impairments, fainting and even death.
Usually, the results and symptoms of brain injuries depend on their severity and the areas of the brain that are affected. Notwithstanding, two people who suffer the same type of brain injury could experience completely different impairments. For example, one might lose motor skills but keep cognitive function, whereas the other might be unable to speak, but suffer no physical disabilities.
Due to this unpredictability, injuries to the brain are frequently exasperating. Much of the time, the brain will repair itself, but this can take a while and problems might still remain. Furthermore, such injuries can increase the likelihood of degenerative brain conditions or other diseases later in life. At Zimmet & Zimmet, our attorneys often represent people who have injured their brains from non traumatic or traumatic causes. Here is a brief overview of these types of conditions:
1. TBIs (Traumatic Brain Injuries)
TBIs (traumatic brain injuries) occur if the brain receives a jolt, blow or penetrating trauma, which disrupts its normal function. Blows to the skull, like those experienced when falling down stairs or in car accidents, cause the brain to shear, deform or turn, leading to swelling, bleeding and bruising. Also, it causes the brain’s chemical composition to change. Wounds from gunshots are a common cause of TBIs as well.
2. Non Traumatic Injuries to the Brain
Obviously, brain injuries are not always confined to physical trauma. People can injure their brains due to oxygen deprivation (if they nearly drown, for instance), or if the blood supply to their brains is interrupted (like it is during a stroke). Moreover, a brain hemorrhage or infection (like meningitis) can cause bleeding and swelling respectively.
Spinal Cord Injuries (SCIs)
The spinal cord is the channel through which the body and the brain communicate. This fragile bunch of nerves passes through the spinal column’s central area. Injuries to the spinal column or cord can hinder the transmission of data to the brain. This disrupted communication is the main feature of an injury to the spinal cord. Typically, the spinal cord gets injured when a traumatic event occurs, like a vehicle collision, a fall, a boating accident or a violent crime (particularly those involving gunshots).
Because they stop the brain communicating with the body properly, spinal cord injuries often cause a loss of sensation, paralysis, and a loss of function to bodily areas that the brain can not communicate with. Doctors tend to categorize injuries to the spinal cord as complete, which means that no data can run through the site of the injury, or as incomplete, which means that some data can run through.
It is rare for spinal cord injuries to heal entirely, and they frequently don’t improve at all. Consequently, many people who suffer from SCIs find that their injuries transform their lives. People who are injured might never walk again, or be able to move certain limbs. These people might have to depend on wheelchairs, or other mobility aids, to live independent lives. Such people might experience a range of associated health problems too, caused by their damaged bodily systems. It is inevitable that injured people will face substantial, unexpected costs that might add up to seven figures over time.
The Loss of Body Parts
Some Floridians might need to have parts of their body amputated, after a traumatic incident. Alternatively, they might be unable to use certain body parts, due to the deforming, serious injuries they have sustained.
Injuries of this nature usually take a few different forms:
- Traumatic amputations occur when a physical incident detaches a limb from a person’s body. Examples of such situations would be when somebody catches their finger in industrial equipment, or traps their limb inside a wrecked vehicle.
- Medical amputations occur when doctors remove somebody’s limb after serious damage to their blood vessels, nerves and bones. In such situations, the limb might pose a risk to the person’s life, or the doctors might be unable to save it.
- Crush injuries with no amputation occur when a doctor can treat a damaged limb that will not recover to full functionality.
With all of these situations, injured people will probably face the prospect of long term disability. To live independently, these individuals might have to depend on costly prosthetics or mobility aids. Such people often experience emotional difficulties and chronic pain.
Scarring Injuries: Road Rash and Burns
Injuries might seem especially severe when disfiguring scars are left once they heal. Road rash, burns and similar injuries that damage or break the skin can occur in several circumstances, such as motorbike accidents and building fires. Injuries of this nature often need long periods of specialist treatment in trauma wards, or at burn centers in the local area.
During this treatment, injured people will experience lots of pain and be exposed to the risk of deadly infections. In addition, healing from road rashes or burns might require several skin grafts or similar procedures to rebuild or fix damaged tissue. There is not much elasticity in scar tissue, so this can restrict a person’s mobility.
Along with the discomfort and pain of their injuries, people who have severe scarring often experience mental health issues. Such injuries have an unfortunate social impact that can cause victims to become isolated, depressed or anxious.
Orthopedic Injuries: Injured Backs and Broken Bones
Even non life threatening injuries can seriously disrupt people’s lives. Vehicle accidents, accidents in the workplace, falls and similar incidents often result in orthopedic injuries and fractures. Although doctors often describe these injuries as moderate or minor, they can impact people in a number of respects. Injuries like torn ligaments, broken bones, slipped disks and dislocated joints might heal eventually, however they still cause serious (occasionally chronic) disability and pain. Injuries of this nature might stop you from working and doing your favorite activities. Also, injured people might reinjure themselves unexpectedly, and require several operations. In turn, this can result in a dependence on prescription medication.
Illnesses and Injuries Related to Exposure
Injuries can cause substantial harm, even if they don’t happen simultaneously. Occasionally, long term exposure to harmful substances or materials results in illnesses and injuries that have a devastating impact.
For instance, respiratory infections, cancers, organ failure and developmental disabilities might arise from:
- Living in an old, lead painted building
- Work carried out in a building that contains asbestos and other hazardous materials
- Working around or using paints, solvents or cleaning products that produce toxic fumes
- Consuming a defective or dangerous drug that has undisclosed or unknown side effects
- Residing in an area where pollution has contaminated the water or air
Illnesses and injuries related to exposure are frightening, because they cause emotional turmoil and physical harm. Once you have been exposed to harmful materials, you have to accept the possibility that you could die prematurely from a terminal illness.
Traumatic Internal Injuries (TIIs)
Just like injuries related to exposure, damaged blood vessels, nerves and internal organs can cause permanent and serious changes to a person’s life. For instance, in a road accident, victims might damage their vital organs, such as their kidneys, lungs or liver. Penetrating injuries from accidental falls onto sharp objects, or assaults, might sever blood vessels or nerves.
Such injuries might pose an immediate threat to a person’s life, and nearly always need emergency treatment. Also, they can have a long lasting impact on a person’s daily life. Injuries to the vital organs, for instance, might stop them from functioning correctly forever. Injured people might require medication on an ongoing basis, or have to make significant changes to their diet or activities just to stay alive.
How Daytona Beach Personal Injury Attorneys Help Injured Victims Seek Justice
Regardless of how insignificant they might seem to other people, all injuries can have a disastrous impact on victims’ lives, careers and personal relationships. Many victims think that they have no option but to accept a future of suffering and pain. Our Daytona Beach personal injury attorneys are passionate about assisting victims in seeking justice, by pursuing compensation from those whose negligent or malicious actions caused injuries. As personal injury attorneys, we carry out many duties on our clients’ behalf, including but not limited to:
- Determining the cause of our clients’ injuries, and analyzing the evidence to identify all companies and people whose indefensible actions exposed our clients to harm.
- Assessing the different ways that injuries have harmed our clients. This could be in an emotional, physical, spiritual, social or financial way. Many of our clients are surprised that Florida law allows them to sue at fault parties for their medical costs, while also compensating them for the kinds of harm they have suffered.
- Speaking to our clients by video, telephone, face to face or text about their current challenges, their rights under law, and their avenues for pursuing compensation through legal processes.
- Addressing clients’ queries about a broad range of financial, practical and legal subjects, so they can make informed decisions while going through a difficult period.
- Pursuing and preparing legal processes, such as lawsuits or insurance claims filed in Florida courts, stating our clients’ entitlement to reasonable compensation from people who harmed them or their relatives.
- Agreeing settlements, consulting with our clients about what settlements they should accept, and advising clients about whether they should settle or carry on.
- Bringing the cases of our clients to Florida courts, to request damages that adequately compensate them for the actions of wrongdoers.
Schedule Your Free Consultation With An Experienced Personal Injury Attorney Today
For more information about your rights in Florida after being injured, get in touch with an expert personal injury attorney today at Zimmet & Zimmet. For more than four decades, our attorneys have been representing injured victims in accident cases involving numerous common personal injuries in Daytona Beach. Contact us online today or call us at (386) 210-3720 to schedule your free consultation.
