New York Personal Injury Lawyers / Boston Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

Boston Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

Suffering any injury can depress you. Even minor injuries can make you miss out on important and fun life events, and more serious injuries can derail the rest of your life.

When you or a loved one suffers a life-altering injury, you may qualify to pursue compensation. If someone else’s negligence, recklessness, or carelessness caused your injuries, you should hold the at-fault party liable for your suffering and seek compensation so that you don’t have to pay out of pocket to cover the cost of your injuries.

To get answers to your questions and figure out if you have a valid legal claim against someone else, speak with the experienced Boston catastrophic injury lawyers at Jacoby & Meyers, LLP.

Getting Results for You

For nearly 50 years, we have helped our neighbors collect compensation from other people who have caused accidents that result in injuries. Our personal injury lawyers offer compassionate, straightforward legal guidance so that you can focus on your health and wellbeing.

At Jacoby & Meyers, LLP, we pride ourselves on giving our clients personalized attention. We don’t want you to feel like just another number. We want to get to know you and your life, so we can help you get the compensation you need. Serious injuries can result in costly medical expenses, both now and in the future. To make sure you get the medical attention you need, you must ensure that you have money to cover those bills, and that’s where we can help.

What Does a Catastrophic Injury Involve?

A catastrophic injury includes any injury that causes permanent damage to your body. These injuries often require extensive medical care to get victims to a point where they can resume some daily routine. In most cases, however, victims never fully recover because the injuries they have suffered prove so severe and damaging to their bodies.

Catastrophic injuries sound scary because they are; these injuries often change a victim’s life forever. Victims may never fully return to their previous lifestyle and may require ongoing medical care and attention. They may even need assistance going about their daily routine.

Many victims of catastrophic injuries can never return to work, hindering their ability to make a living and support themselves. This also makes it more difficult for catastrophic injury victims to cover their medical expenses, a burden that they shouldn’t have to bear. That’s why it’s crucial that if you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury that you speak with a skilled Boston catastrophic injury lawyer as soon as possible.

Types of Catastrophic Injuries

Catastrophic injuries all involve severe consequences, but the types of injuries vary greatly. Catastrophic injuries often include:

• Back injuries
• Neck injuries
• Spinal cord injuries
• Concussions and other traumatic brain injuries
• Burn injuries
• Internal organ damage
• Paralysis
• Amputation

In the most severe cases, victims lose their ability to care for themselves independently. This means that they may need to have ongoing medical care and attention to help them go about their daily lives. This can become an extremely expensive endeavor, not to mention the mental anguish this puts on the victim.

Do not discount your mental health and wellbeing. When someone suffers a catastrophic injury, life changes dramatically. That can have a serious impact on your mental health. Make sure you get the help you need to deal with all of your injuries, both physical and mental.

Causes of Catastrophic Injuries

Catastrophic events often cause equally catastrophic injuries. This includes:

• Car accidents
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Pedestrian accidents
• Construction accidents
• Farming accidents
• Workplace accidents
• Falls
• Medical malpractice
• Defective products

These types of serious accidents can cause catastrophic injuries. Oftentimes, when a person suffers a catastrophic injury, the victim also suffers many other types of injuries. This compounds victims’ pain, their suffering, and the amount of time they need to recover. In most cases, victims of catastrophic injuries never fully recover.

Getting Compensation

When you suffer such serious injuries in any type of accident caused by another person, frustration and anger naturally come along with your physical injuries. You can help avoid financial hardship after getting injured by working with a trusted Boston catastrophic injury attorney who can fight to get you compensation while you focus on your physical and mental health and wellbeing.

Your medical bills will quickly accumulate. Concussions, a mild traumatic brain injury, often cost victims over $1 million in lifetime medical care. These medical bills can hurt even the most financially well-off people.

To combat this, you can file a personal injury claim for damages against the negligent party. These claims attempt to collect compensation from the person who caused your injuries. You want to recover sufficient money so that you do not have to pay a penny out of your own pocket to cover your medical expenses and other financial losses.

Your lawyer may try to recover compensation for:

• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Lost income
• Lost earning potential
• Loss of companionship
• Loss of life enjoyment
• Present and future medical expenses
• Rehabilitation costs
• Home renovation costs

You need a lawyer who can add up not only the bills you’ve already racked up and maybe even paid, but also those bills that may yet come. Because your medical needs will likely prove extensive, you’ll need a large sum of money to ensure that you don’t have to cover these costs.

You should work with a knowledgeable catastrophic injury attorney in Boston who can help you create an accurate estimate of your future needs. Working together with medical experts, your lawyer can help you understand the vast amount of money you may need to cover your future medical needs.

This calculation may also include your lost income, a factor that many catastrophic injury victims overlook. They only consider the medical bills and not related expenses. You may qualify to seek compensation for the income you have lost because you can no longer work. All of this can add up to substantial sums of money that could help you live your life as best as possible.

Remain Cautious of Quick Settlement Offers

After a catastrophic injury, you may receive a call from a representative of the insurance company for the at-fault party. You may receive a quick settlement offer from the representative. We cannot stress enough that you need to be careful when speaking with the negligent party’s insurance company.

Insurance companies want to make money. They won’t make money if they pay out the full value of your claim. Even though you might feel excited about the call, the insurance company doesn’t care about your best interests. Rather, it wants to make you go away for as little money as possible.

Unfortunately, many insurance companies get their wish when catastrophic injury victims agree to the settlement amount. This may result in the victims having to pay substantial amounts of money out of their own pocket because they settled for too little.

When you get this call, the insurance company may even try to pressure you, saying that the offer will only last for a short time, and that it represents the absolute highest amount possible. Even if you think the settlement amount seems fair, if you haven’t calculated your future medical expenses, you will probably settle for far too little. Once you sign the settlement agreement, you cannot go back to the insurance company and ask for more money later if your expenses continue to mount. Months or years later, after the settlement funds have run dry, you will have no right to pursue additional compensation should your injuries worsen.

You can avoid this tragic situation by partnering with an aggressive and experienced Boston catastrophic injury lawyer. Together with your legal team, you can work toward the shared goal of recovering every dollar you need to cover your existing and future expenses. You don’t want to have to worry about how you will pay your bills. You have enough to worry about with your health and recovery. Let your legal team shoulder the legal burden of fighting with the insurance company to try and get you maximum compensation.

Act Fast

Every state limits the amount of time you have to file a claim against the party who caused your injuries, called a statute of limitations. In Massachusetts, injured individuals have just three years to file a claim.

Three years may seem like a long time, but consider all of the hurdles you may face during this time, such as:

• Multiple surgeries
• Extended hospital stays
• Inability to return to work
• Prescription medication costs
• In-facility rehabilitation
• In-home care
• Physical therapy
• Home renovations

You shouldn’t focus on anything other than your health and recovery. Your injuries may have severe effects, and you need to put all of your effort and energy into getting better and learning how to live with your injuries.

To help you meet this goal, your lawyer will shoulder the legal burden of meeting all-important deadlines. If you miss this crucial filing deadline, you could miss out on your chance to recover maximum compensation for your injuries. This could make it extremely difficult for you to recover the compensation you need to get all your necessary medical care.

Wrongful Death

Sometimes, catastrophic injuries prove so severe that the victim does not survive. If you have tragically lost a loved one due to someone else’s negligence, you may qualify to pursue compensation from the at-fault party for your loss. While no amount of money will bring your loved one back, the money will help ensure that you do not have to shoulder the extreme financial burden of your loved one’s untimely death.

In a wrongful death claim, you may qualify to recover compensation for:

• Funeral expenses
• Burial costs
• Final medical expenses
• Loss of consortium
• Loss of financial support

After losing a loved one in a tragic accident, you likely don’t immediately think of filing a wrongful death claim. However, you must do so before you find yourself bearing the brunt of the resulting financial obligations. If your loved one served as the primary breadwinner in the family, for example, you may qualify to pursue compensation for the lost financial support resulting from the untimely death.

Some states allow surviving spouses and family members to file a wrongful death claim against the negligent party. However, under Massachusetts law, only the executor or personal representative of the estate can file a wrongful death claim. The person named in the decedent’s will or appointed by a court to handle the estate proceedings will serve as the personal representative.

You must open an estate on behalf of the decedent before filing a wrongful death claim in Massachusetts. A specific timeline will dictate how long you have to file a wrongful death claim, and just like a personal injury claim, the law provides you with three years from the date of the death in which to file a claim. Because you first have to open the estate, this can delay opening a wrongful death claim, making it all the more important to speak with a lawyer quickly to get the ball rolling on the legal processes.

If you wait too long, you may not qualify to collect compensation for your loved one’s death. While we understand a wrongful death lawsuit might be the furthest thing from your mind at this tragic time, speaking with a lawyer as soon as possible means that your legal team can handle the wrongful death issue while you spend time with your family, mourning and grieving the loss of your loved one.

Boston Catastrophic injury FAQs

Although any accident can lead to serious injuries, even those who survive a catastrophic injury accident face life-changing injuries, excruciating pain, and astronomical medical expenses that can forever change their lives.

Following a catastrophic injury accident, it is common for victims and their families to have numerous questions regarding what happened, their legal options, and the remedies they can pursue. For these reasons, in this blog post, we have prepared answers to some frequently asked questions our clients often have after a Boston catastrophic injury accident.

With the below responses, we hope you better understand your options and how our experienced legal team can fight for the compensation you deserve.

1. What Makes an Injury Catastrophic Following a Boston Accident?

A catastrophic injury is an injury that happens suddenly and without warning, leaving victims with a long-term disability or debilitation. This injury can include an injury that permanently prevents an individual from performing any gainful work.

In many instances, catastrophic injuries involve a loss of capacity or a deformity, whether mental or physical, resulting from a limb loss, brain damage, spinal cord injury, or a traumatic brain injury.

2. How Do Catastrophic Injury Claims Differ From Other Personal Injury Cases?

Because catastrophic injury accidents tend to produce debilitating, permanent, and sometimes fatal injuries, they are also known to result in intense and complicated legal battles, which often prompt more significant settlements and verdicts than other personal injury claims. Consequently, when dealing with such substantial compensation, victims are usually required to produce medical experts, financial specialists, and care planning evidence to support their claim and prove the extent of their damages.

Due to these complexities, reach out to an experienced catastrophic injury accident lawyer who not only understands how to handle these complicated claims but has the experience, skills, and resources to prepare the strongest case possible and go after the financial recovery you need.

3. What are the Different Types of Catastrophic Injuries?

Although a catastrophic injury can affect almost any part of the body, some of the more common catastrophic injuries tend to include:

• Amputations
• Loss of sight
• Loss of hearing
• Facial trauma, including eye injuries
• Birth injuries
• Nerve damage
• Paralysis
• Neurological damage
• Crushing injuries
• Brain damage

4. Who Can You Hold Accountable for a Boston Catastrophic Injury Accident?

Determining who you can hold accountable for a Boston catastrophic injury accident is often more challenging than many expect it to be, especially when more than one party is involved in causing the accident.

However, in general, certain parties more frequently cause these accidents:

• Doctors
• Hospitals
• Nurses and other medical professionals
• Motorists and other vehicle owners
• Employers
• Property owners
• Manufacturers or sellers of a defective product or drug

Yet, the best way to determine who was at fault for your Boston catastrophic injury accident is to reach out to an experienced Boston catastrophic injury accident attorney. These lawyers can investigate the incident, figure out who was responsible for your injuries and losses and hold all those at-fault accountable.

5. How Much Time Do You Have to Bring a Legal Claim Following a Boston Catastrophic Injury Accident?

Following a Boston catastrophic injury accident, it is important to note that the time you have to file a legal claim is limited. The statute of limitations is a law that dictates the amount of time you have to file a legal case following an alleged offense. If you do not file your lawsuit within that deadline, you can’t pursue legal action to collect compensation for your injuries.

In Massachusetts, the statute of limitations for filing a catastrophic injury claim following a Boston accident is three years from the accident date. Yet, depending on the circumstances of the accident, exceptions may apply to this rule. As a result, following your catastrophic injury accident, reach out to an experienced Boston catastrophic injury accident lawyer as soon as possible.

These attorneys can not only review your case and figure out how much time you have to file your claim. But they can also make sure that they adequately prepare your legal motions and documents and submit them to the appropriate court before time expires.

6. What Financial Damages Can You Pursue Following a Boston Catastrophic Injury Accident?

If you sustained a catastrophic injury in a Boston accident because of another person’s wrongful actions, you may be entitled to compensation for your losses and harm. In Massachusetts, this compensation often includes the following types of damages:

Economic Damages

These damages refer to the actual and measurable losses that result from an accident.

They include:

• Past and current medical expenses related to emergency services such as ambulance rides, prescription medications, surgeries, assistive medical devices, doctor visits, and hospital stay
• Lost wages and reduced earning capacity
• Personal property damages, including repair expenses and replacement costs
• Rehabilitative services, including physical therapy or occupational therapy
• Domestic replacement services
• Other out-of-pocket expenses

Non-economic Damages

These damages refer to compensation for non-monetary, subjective losses, including:

• Pain and Suffering
• Emotional distress
• Loss of enjoyment and quality of life
• Disfigurement and scarring
• Loss of companionship
• Repetitional damage
• Limb loss
• Humiliation
• Inconvenience

Punitive Damages

While the above damages compensate a victim for their losses following an accident, punitive damages punish the defendant for their egregious actions and deter others from committing this act. As a result, not every personal injury case results in these damages. In fact, in Massachusetts, courts only award punitive damages when a wrongful death results from gross negligence or willful, reckless, or wanton acts.

7. What Should You Do Following a Boston Catastrophic Injury Accident to Protect Your Legal Rights?

After a Boston catastrophic injury accident, your health and recovery should be your number one priority. However, to protect your legal rights following this tragic accident, you should consider doing the following:

Contact the Local Authorities Immediately

Following a catastrophic injury accident, you need to call 911 immediately. If you cannot do this on your own because of your injuries, have someone at the scene call on your behalf. Contacting 911 is not only the fastest way to alert the police of the accident and notify emergency medical personnel that you require immediate medical treatment, but it is also the quickest way to get the accident on record.

In addition, once the police arrive at the scene and investigate the incident, they will write down their findings in their police report. If you decide to pursue legal action following this accident, this police report can provide you and your lawyer with helpful information regarding what happened and who was at fault.

Seek Medical Help as Soon as Possible

After a catastrophic injury accident, you will likely need emergency medical treatment. However, in the rare instance where an ambulance doesn’t transport you to the emergency room, get to a doctor as soon as possible. Sometimes, symptoms of a catastrophic injury, such as a traumatic brain injury, can take some time to manifest. The longer you wait to get the condition examined, the more devastating and fatal it can become.

Additionally, getting this medical treatment can help your legal claim, especially since the insurance company is looking for any reason to deny your case. For instance, by not getting prompt treatment, the other side will use this as an opportunity to argue that your injuries are not that serious or result from a subsequent event.

When you get to your doctor after your accident, these medical professionals can provide you with a medical report that can document the severity of your injuries and serve as evidence of a direct link between your accident and the catastrophic injuries you sustained.

Try to Gather Evidence

Following a catastrophic injury accident, it is unlikely that you will be able to gather evidence from the scene. However, in these instances, do not worry. Once you hire an experienced catastrophic injury accident attorney, they can take over the investigation and obtain photos and videos of the accident scene, the vehicles in the accident, hazardous conditions that caused the accident, and anything else that can help show what happened.

However, if possible, you or a loved one should try to take pictures of your injuries following the accident, as this can help your attorney show the extent of the harm you endured.

Keep Detailed Medical Records

Keep track of every medical bill or expense you incurred because of the accident. It may even be helpful to create a worksheet where you list each provider you visited, the service date, the amount billed, the amount you paid, and the insurance reimbursement. These records can help your lawyer figure out how much money they need to pursue on your behalf.

8. How Can an Experienced Boston Catastrophic Injury Accident Attorney Help You Fight For the Damages and Justice You Deserve Following a Catastrophic Injury Accident?

Following a catastrophic injury accident, the last thing you want to do is stress about learning state laws and preparing detailed arguments to prove your claim so that you can collect the money you need. Fortunately, with an experienced Boston catastrophic injury accident lawyer on your side, you will not have to worry about taking on this challenging legal battle on your own.

Instead, once you retain an attorney, they can:

• Discuss your catastrophic injury accident with you in detail, figure out if you have a viable claim, and help you determine the legal options you can pursue.
• Go over all your questions and concerns regarding your case and the legal process involved.
• Investigate your accident thoroughly and secure the evidence needed to show what happened and who was at fault.
• Hire experts, including engineers, doctors, accident reconstructionists, and financial specialists, to validate your claim.
• Handle all the negotiations and discussions with the defense team and the insurance company, and fight for a fair settlement offer.
• Take the case in front of a judge or a jury, if required, and go after maximum damages.

If you or a loved one suffered a catastrophic injury in a Boston accident, do not wait any longer to get the legal help you need.

Speak With Jacoby & Meyers, LLP, Today

If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury, or you have tragically lost a loved one in a catastrophic accident, you should have an aggressive legal advocate on your side, fighting hard to protect your rights. Contact Jacoby & Meyers, LLP, online or at (877) 472-3061 today to find out how we may qualify to help you get the compensation you need to get better.

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Boston, MA 02109