Houston Burn Injuries Lawyer
Double Board Certified with 22 years experience
Joe Stephens has handled numerous burn injuries due to plant explosions, defective products, and house fires. His competency to try cases involving these types of case is demonstrated through two board certifications in the fields of Personal Injury Trial Law, and in Civil Trial Law. He knows the best experts in the United States to prove the cause and origin of the fire, and to show what the Defendant could have done to prevent the fire. Almost always, the Defendant has failed to follow recognized Fire and Building Codes, and my experts will prove it. Further, Mr. Stephens has compassionately contributed his time, and his heart to his clients who have been physically, and emotionally devastated by these horrific injuries. He will always be there to help, to lend an ear, or his talent in order to obtain justice in your case.
Fire and Burn Injury info
According to the United States Fire Administration, a division of
the Federal Emergency Management Agency:
- Fires kill about 500 children ages 14 and under each year and injure approximately 40,000 other children.
- In 2003, about 83,300 children under the age of 14 were treated for burn injuries in hospital emergency rooms.
- Hot tap water scald burns cause more deaths and hospitalizations than any other hot liquid burns.
- The most common causes of product-related thermal burn injuries among children ages 14 and under are hair curlers, curling irons, room heaters, ovens and ranges, irons, gasoline, and fireworks.
Burn injuries, which have reached epidemic proportions in
recent years, are considered a health care problem which is more
serious than the polio epidemic was at its peak. It has only been
in the past several years that the medical profession has begun
to recognize and understand the problems associated with burns.
In the 1950s there were less than 10 hospitals in the United
States that specialized in burns. Since that time, there has been
significant advancement in understanding the problem of burn
injuries and there are now about 200 special burn care centers in
the United States.
Burn accident statistics show that at least 50% of all burn
accidents can be prevented. For example, one of every 13
structure fire deaths in the United States was caused by a child
setting a fire. Children playing with fire account for more than
one-third of preschool child deaths by fire. The following
information regarding burn injuries has been compiled:
In the United States, approximately 2.4
million burn injuries are reported per year. Approximately
650,000 of the injuries are treated by medical professionals;
75,000 are hospitalized. Of those hospitalized, 20,000 have major
burns involving at least 25% of their total body surface. Between
8,000 and 12,000 of patients with burns die, and approximately
one million will sustain substantial or permanent disabilities
resulting from their burn injury. (Journal of Burn Care
& Rehabilitation, May/June 1992)
(Note: These statistics are for the United States only and just
take into account burn injuries that are reported. Many burns,
for which people seek relief, go un-reported, such as sunburns,
minor scalds, match burns, iron burns, curling iron burns, burns
from coffee, etc.)
Burn injuries are second to motor vehicle accidents
as the leading cause of accidental death in the United
States.
Burn Injury Statistics
The Bureau of Labor Statistics published the following burn injury statistics for 1992:
- 41,000 heat burns resulted in an average of four lost days of work each. Breakdowns of industrial burns were as follows: 16,500 retail trade; 9,500 manufacturing; 8,600 service industry (such as restaurants).
- 15,700 chemical burns resulted in an average of two lost days of work each. Breakdowns were as follows: 5,800 manufacturing (such as chemical manufacturers); 3,200 service industry; 2,600 retail industry.
- Children, ages newborn to two-years-old, are most frequently admitted for emergency burn care in a hospital. The kitchen is the most frequent area in the home where burn injuries occur for children newborn to four. The next most frequent area is in the bathroom.
- From ages 5 to 74, most burn injuries occur outdoors with the next most frequent area being the kitchen.
- From ages 75 and above, the kitchen is the most
frequent area for burn injuries to occur, with outdoor fire
accidents being next.
Burns and fires are the leading cause of accidental death in the home for children 14 and under and the third leading cause of accidental death for adults. - Scalds are the leading cause of accidental death in the home for children from birth to age four and are 40% of the burn injuries for children up to age 14.
- The National Burn Information Exchange indicates that after the
age of 60, the risk of burn injury is greater than at any time
since childhood and the average size of the burn is larger than
for any other age group.
The most common burn accidents for older adults are from flame or scalding, lighting trash fires or a furnace, bathing or falling asleep while smoking. - The National Fire Protection Agency found that the age group most likely to die in house fires are those 75 and older. High-voltage electric injuries account for approximately 3% of hospital admissions for burn injuries.
- Burns are one of the most expensive catastrophic injuries to treat. For example, a burn of 30% of total body area can cost as much as $200,000 in initial hospitalization costs and for physicians fees. For extensive burns, there are additional significant costs which will include costs for repeat admission for reconstruction and for rehabilitation. By 2004 only three quarters of all homes had a least one working smoke alarm.
Burn Care and Treatment
Burn is defined as tissue damage caused by a variety of agents,
such as heat, chemicals, electricity, sunlight, or nuclear
radiation. Most common are burns caused by scalds, building
fires, and flammable liquids and gases.
- First-degree burns affect only the outer layer (called the epidermis) of the skin.
- Second-degree burns damage the epidermis and the layer beneath it (called the dermis).
- Third-degree burns involve damage or complete destruction of the skin to its full depth and damage to underlying tissues. People who experience such burns often require skin grafting.
- The swelling and blistering characteristic of burns are caused by the loss of fluid from damaged blood vessels.
- In severe cases, such fluid loss can cause shock, requiring immediate transfusion of the patient with blood or a physiological salt solution to restore adequate fluid levels to maintain blood pressure.
Burns often lead to infection, due to damage to the skin's protective barrier. In many cases, topical antibiotics (creams or ointments applied to the skin) can prevent or treat such infection. The three topical antibiotics that are most widely used are silver sulfadiazene cream, mafenide acetate cream, and silver nitrate. Each year in the United States, 1.25 million burn injuries require medical attention.
- Approximately 50,000 of these require hospitalization, and roughly half of those burn patients are admitted to a specialized burn unit.
Up to 10,000 people in the United States die every year of burn-related infections; pneumonia is the most common infectious complication among hospitalized burn patients.
- Twenty years ago, burns covering half the body were routinely fatal; today, patients with burns covering 90 percent of the body can survive (but often with permanent impairments).
- Practices that have contributed to this improvement include advances in resuscitation, wound cleaning and follow-up care, nutritional support, and infection control.
- Grafting with natural or artificial materials can also speed the healing process.
Complications following injury, shock, or burns may occur long after the initial incident, often when the patient is in an intensive care unit (ICU). Many ICU patients face similar medical problems regardless of the reason for their admission into the unit.The leading causes of death in ICUs are multiple organ system dysfunction, in which several of the body's organs fail at once, and adult respiratory distress syndrome, in which the lungs in particular fail. In both conditions, the organs of the body are ravaged by the patient's own immune system, leading to severe, debilitating, and uncontrolled inflammation.The cost of maintaining critically ill patients in ICUs is estimated to be roughly 1 percent of the U.S. gross national product. Improving methods of wound healing and tissue repair offers tremendous opportunities to enhance the quality of life for trauma and burn patients, and may also help to reduce health care costs. Scientists are investigating ways to treat wounds caused by trauma, burns, or surgical interventions with biological agents (e.g. growth factors) or new drugs. The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), sponsors research--mostly basic but some clinical--in the areas of burn, shock, and trauma. Other NIH components support or conduct research in aspects of trauma, burn, and injury related to their missions, as well.
If you or someone you love has suffered burn
injuries because of anothers
negligence or a defective product, you may be entitled to
financial compensation for everything from your pain and
suffering, lost wages, and hospital bills, to long-term recovery
bills.
Talk to an experienced, and Double Board Certified Trial Lawyer
today. Contact Joe Stephens.
Home | About | Practice | Recoveries | News | Questions | Contact | Sitemap
