For many people in the Biloxi area and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, the summer months mean relaxing outside and engaging in various recreational activities like boating, swimming, or just going to the beach. In addition, our thriving gaming industry brings thousands of people to the area every summer, often significantly increasing the number of people in the area.

Unfortunately, all of this activity can result in serious accidents – including those that result in catastrophic injuries. If you or your loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury in a preventable accident, there is a good chance you are entitled to significant compensation for your accident-related injuries, so it’s a good idea to call a Mississippi personal injury lawyer as soon as possible.

What are Catastrophic Injuries?

Catastrophic injuries are any injuries that will result in permanent physical or mental impairment. In many cases, catastrophic injuries involve trauma to the brain or spine, but they can also include injuries like crush injuries, traumatic amputations, and eye or ear injuries. In many cases, victims of these kinds of injuries are unable to work, perform everyday tasks, or engage in activities that they enjoyed before their accident.

What Causes Catastrophic Injuries?

Many catastrophic injuries are the result of workplace or recreational accidents, but they can occur in any accident that can cause serious injury.

Types of Catastrophic Injuries:

Some examples of accidents that have the potential to result in catastrophic injuries include:

Spinal Cord Injuries Can Cause a Lifetime of Losses

A spinal cord injury is unquestionably one of the most serious injuries that you can sustain in your lifetime and survive. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerves that allows the brain to communicate with the rest of the body, and any damage to it can impair these signals. As a result, spinal cord injuries have the potential to cause serious issues with movement and sensation, and can even result in permanent paralysis below the site of injury.

In many cases, victims are unable to return to work for the rest of their lives and may require significant medical care and expensive mobility aids. In fact, the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation reports that lifetime expenses – without taking into account indirect costs – for a 25-year-old with high tetraplegia will exceed $4.7 million.

In addition, the physical and emotional pain and suffering that victims and their families experience can be immeasurable and last a lifetime. Not surprisingly, spinal cord injury victims are often entitled to substantial compensation for their accident-related losses. For this reason, it is highly advisable for spinal cord injury victims to retain a Mississippi personal injury attorney as soon as possible.

The Serious Complications of Severe Brain Injuries

Traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) are another common catastrophic injury that can leave victims with significant long-term complications. Even “mild” TBIs can cause a number of serious complications, including:

  • Difficulty concentrating
  • Seizures
  • Changes to the sense of taste and smell
  • Problems communicating
  • Memory problems
  • Emotional volatility
  • Issues with problem-solving

In the most severe cases, people who suffer TBIs are unable to work or live independently. Fortunately, when a catastrophic brain injury is caused by the negligence or recklessness of others, victims are typically entitled to compensation for all of their accident-related expenses – including those that will arise in the future, as well as compensation for their physical and emotional pain and suffering, lost wages, and other damages.

Catastrophic Injury Victims and their Families Should Retain an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney

If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury, it’s important to understand that your case may be worth well into the hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars. As a result, there is a good chance that the catastrophic injury insurance company handling your claim will do everything it can to pay you as little as possible to settle your claim. Some of the things that insurance companies might try to minimize the amount they pay catastrophic accident victims include:

  • Making settlement offers before victims have a chance to talk to an attorney
  • Waiting to make a settlement offer until bills have piled up and victims are feeling pressure to settle
  • Misrepresenting victims’ legal rights to them
  • Requesting overbroad medical record authorizations in order to find “pre-existing conditions”
  • Pressuring victims to provide recorded statements without legal advice or representation

The most effective thing that victims can do to protect their legal rights is to retain a catastrophic injury lawyer in Mississippi as soon as possible. When catastrophic injury victims are represented by an attorney, the insurance company is required to communicate with the lawyer rather than the victim directly. For this reason, being represented by a catastrophic injury law firm will ensure that you will not say or do anything that could jeopardize your right to recover full and fair compensation.

Furthermore, determining the value of a case is extremely complicated, and unrepresented victims risk accepting catastrophic injury settlements far below the actual value of their cases.

One of the issues that make these cases so complex is the fact that any settlement should compensate you for all of your damages and losses – including those that you will suffer in the future. As a result, determining the value of catastrophic injury cases often requires the use of financial and medical experts who can speak to victims’ losses and anticipated care needs and expenses over the course of years or even decades. Fortunately, when you work with an experienced Mississippi personal injury lawyer, he or she can handle the necessary steps to establish the full value of your case, and ensure that you obtain the maximum compensation available.

Call Us a Call Today to Schedule a Consultation with a Mississippi Personal Injury Lawyer

At Van Cleave Law, we are dedicated to helping injured victims obtain the compensation they are entitled to recover under Mississippi law. If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury, we will review the facts of your case at no cost to you, and will never collect legal fees until we win your case. To schedule your free case evaluation with a personal injury attorney in Biloxi, call our office today at (228) 432-7826 or contact us online.