3 Places Personal Injuries Can Occur

Yellow sign – caution. Wet floor is in the supermarket against the background of blurry products standing on the shelves

Legally, personal injury law allows an injured person to receive compensation from someone who has caused harm or wrongful conduct. That’s why personal injury is part of the civil law since the injured party can request monetary compensation. However, you should file a claim within a specific period from the time you received the injury. Depending on your state laws, some have a two-year limit to file a claim. Else, one can’t file such a claim when the time limit has lapsed.

Sometimes, people involved in personal injuries can bring their cases to court, especially if the compensation isn’t enough to compensate for their injuries. To win such cases, the burden of proof lies on the plaintiff. This means that the injured party should prove that the defendant acted negligently to win the lawsuit or receive compensation.

Here are some common places where personal injury can occur and injury law can be applied:

1. Road

When you’re involved in a car accident, determining the one at fault is the primary issue. That’s why police works are involved so the person at fault will be identified and be liable. Whatever the reason may be, one may become liable to compensate the injured party because the latter may experience any personal injury–from scratches and burns to more severe injuries.

Here are some of the following injuries that are too critical because they can negatively impact one’s daily life:

• Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI): One of the worst injuries one can receive after a head trauma due to car accidents is TBI. Also, car accidents are usually the leading cause of TBI. That’s why one of the things you should do after a car accident is to ensure that you’ve undergone proper medical examinations, especially ones that diagnose TBI. It’s because TBI usually occurs after hours or days after head trauma. Some experience mild to severe TBI, which can significantly affect someone’s daily life.
• Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): Another serious injury one can have after a car accident is PTSD. When one suffers from PTSD, they usually relive the accident through nightmares or flashbacks.

PTSD can also affect a person’s life because some withdraw from society while others don’t enjoy the same activities they once did. As a result, some lose their job because they can’t function well anymore. That’s why personal injury claims cover PTSD, especially if the reason is due to the car accident.

• Amputation: Although these are rare, some people involved in car accidents lose a toe, finger, leg, arm, or other appendages requiring surgical amputation. The worst effect of such is permanent disability towards the injured person.
• Internal Injuries: While some only experienced fractures, others may even have internal bleeding from car crashes. This occurs when one experiences damage to their internal organs, which requires immediate medical treatment.

2. Private or Public Properties

Aside from road accidents, you can also incur personal injuries inside or within the premises of private or public properties. Usually, the ones liable for injuries occurring on these properties are occupants and landowners. It’s because they’re responsible for keeping their property safe by using proper hazard signages, making necessary repairs, and inspecting the property.

Here are some injuries you can incur when you’re on someone else’s property:

• Common Injuries: Most common injuries are burn injuries, broken bones, spinal cord injuries, and head injuries. Regardless of the type of injury incurred, you can file a claim against the owner due to negligence.
• Minor Injuries: These injuries can range from broken bones, lacerations, scrapes, or bruises. Even if these injuries aren’t long-term, you can still file a claim if you want the owner to cover your medical expenses.
• Catastrophic Injuries: While some injuries are superficial, catastrophic injuries can cause intensive medical treatment because the psychological, emotional, and physical damage is severe. Examples of such are spinal cord injury and brain injury.

There are still many causes of injury occurring at someone else’s property, but the most common ones are slip and fall. For instance, if no warning signs indicate that the floor is wet or slippery due to ongoing cleaning, and then someone slipped, the owner may be held liable for such injury. Other causes involve animal attacks, accidental drowning, or assault.

Patient health insurance claim form in doctor or nurse hands for medicare coverage and medical treatment from illness, accident injury and admitted in hospital ward

3. Hospital

You can also incur personal injuries in hospitals, which may be due to medical malpractice of EMTs, doctors, nurses, and other medical care professionals. However, these personal injuries should result from the medical care or treatment provided by the hospital staff.

Under the personal injury law, the injured party files a medical malpractice claim if the following elements are present:

• The health care provider is providing a duty of care to the injured party. The duty refers to the direct relationship between the patient and the healthcare provider wherein the latter provides medical care to the former. The care provided is expected to be of high-quality because of the healthcare providers’ educational background and experience.
• The duty was breached. Since there’s an expectation that healthcare providers should provide proper medical care, a breach of duty occurs when there are medication errors, neglect, improper care, failure to diagnose, or misdiagnosis.
• The duty breached causes harm to the injured party. This element is when the injured party should prove that the healthcare provider was negligent.
• The injury incurred may be compensated. This is wherein the plaintiff should prove that the injury resulted in some kind of damages, including medical bills, emotional distress, pain and suffering, and lost wages.

Just like other personal injury cases, the burden of proof lies on the injured party. Although it may be hard to prove that the healthcare worker caused injury to the victim, an experienced personal injury lawyer will help.

Conclusion

You can incur personal injuries anywhere and anytime, and they may fall under personal injury law. That means any injuries caused by another requires compensation, especially if the injured party incurred other damages, like losing wages, paying medical bills, and suffering physical or emotional pain. When such things happen, you may need a professional’s help to get the right compensation you deserve.