Burn Injury, Flammable Products

Burn Injury - Long Term Care Attorney in South Carolina

Helping Burn Victims and their Families for Decades

At the Foster Law Firm, we have the resources necessary to guide your family through this difficult time and plan for long term care. Contact our Greenville law firm to learn how we can help. We offer advice and legal counsel to clients throughout the United States.

Immediate Care following a Serious Burn

Robin Foster has extensive experience helping families comprehend the nature of a loved one's burn injury and treatment they are receiving at the burn center.

• Medication and immediate treatment: Physicians may prescribe considerable pain medication to alleviate pain in the areas immediately surrounding the burn. Burn centers typically place burn victims in medically induced comas so that aggressive medical treatments can be administered. Antibiotics will be used to treat the burn and prevent infection. In addition, IV fluids will be used to replace fluids lost through the burn damaged skin.
• Breathing treatment: Because many serious third degree burns result from a home fire, doctors may insert a breathing tube to increase airflow to lungs damaged by heat and smoke inhalation. Depending on the severity of the burn, doctors may choose to use hyperbaric treatment in which the individual is placed in a pressurized room filled with oxygen to increase air flow to the damaged tissue and enhance the healing process. This treatment is most effective if done within the first 24 hours. Bronchoscopy (a scope used to view inside the lungs) is often used to evaluate the extent of lung injury and to remove carbonaceous materials from the lungs.
• Skin treatment: Burn specialists use various techniques to promote healing of the burn area. The dead tissue and blisters caused by the burn impedes the healing process. Therefore, debridement or excision is used to surgically remove the dead tissue. These techniques are also used to prep the area for skin graft surgery. In addition, following a serious burn injury, a thick scab-like surface (called an echar) will likely cover the damaged area. This will be removed so that the echar does not hinder recovery. Skin graft surgery or skin replacement surgery may be utilized to restore healthy skin tissue to the damaged area.

Future Long Term Care

Through our years of experience, we have become very aware of the lifelong impact a severe burn will have on fire victims.

• Mental health and psychological care, such as counseling, support groups, anxiety medications, or other care to help the individual overcome the challenges of living with a new appearance, manage anxieties, and the deal with the trauma of the accident.
• Physical therapy and respiratory therapy: Burn injuries often reduce mobility in the affected area. Physical therapy may be necessary for weeks, months, or indefinitely to enhance mobility. In addition, respiratory therapy or long term respiratory care may be necessary to enhance lung capacity or overcome the challenges of severe lung damage.
• Occupational therapy and vocational rehabilitation: Occupational therapy will enable the burn victim to participate in life in a more meaningful way, to accomplish tasks and activities of daily living, learn new skills, and to adapt their lives to permanent losses. Burn victims may be incapable of returning to previous employment. Therefore, vocational rehabilitation may be necessary. When a fire causes full or partial disability, long term disability benefits may be necessary to provide income. Our ERISA attorney, Rob Hoskins, can help you with these claims.

Our burn injury attorneys comprehend the impact a burn injury may have on the entire family. We have helped many clients recover compensation to alleviate the financial strain of the injury and have put them in contact with the resources they need to manage future long term care. Call 866.279.9772 or e-mail us online.