A burn injury can be a life-altering event

Most Kentucky residents experience minor burns regularly in their daily lives. They may accidentally bump a hot pan on the cook-top with their hand, or they may touch a hot curling iron to their neck as they fix their hair. These small, superficial burns are downright painful but most do not require medical treatment and heal on their own. However, burns can be significantly more serious and can arise from many differently types of incidents. This informational post will examine some of the ways that serious burns can happen from negligence-based accidents and how burns are classified in terms of severity.

Burns are classified based on how deep they penetrate into a victim’s body. A minor burn such as those mentioned in the preceding paragraph may likely be classified as a first degree burn as they only affect the first layer of skin on the victim. A worker may suffer a first degree burn on the job if they are not given the proper training or equipment to handle hot substances; first degree burns are generally not serious but can hurt.

Second degree burns are more serious as they penetrate deeper into the skin. Third degree burns penetrate all of the way through the victim’s skin layers and into the layers of tissue below. These burns require medical treatment, as do fourth degree burns which burn through the sub-skin tissues and affect muscles, bones and other internal bodily structures.

A victim may suffer a serious burn from a car accident or workplace incident, from a dangerous consumer product or from any number of other negligence-based events that cause victims to sustain catastrophic injuries. While readers of this blog are reminded that its contents do not provide medical or legal advice, they are encouraged to seek professional assistance if they believe that their burn injuries may be compensable under personal injury theories of law.