What should I do if my child has suffered a burn injury?
Children are naturally curious and sometimes that curiosity can lead to injury such as a burn. Burns are the fifth most common cause of non-fatal injury in children according to the World Health Organization. While there are many potential causes of burn injury in children, there are also many precautions that caregivers can take to help prevent such an injury. The Louisiana attorney for children at Cueria Law Firm offers tips below about how to prevent burn injuries.
If your child has suffered a burn injury due to the negligence of someone else, you should contact our Louisiana attorney for children to help you determine if you have a case against them. Severe burn injuries often require lengthy and expensive treatment. The attorneys at Cueria Law Firm have helped many families get the compensation they need to provide the proper care for their injured child.
Common Causes of Burn Injuries in Children
Most burn injuries in children occur in or around the home. For older children who are still under the age of 18, many burn injuries happen in the workplace. In fact, over 300 children under the age of 18 are treated in a hospital for burn injuries every day in the United States. Younger children are most susceptible to burn injuries due to their natural curiosity as well as their lack of experience and motor skills. Around the home, children can sustain burn injuries from many sources.
Some of the sources of childhood burn injury in Louisiana include:
- Sunburn
- Electrical outlets
- Frayed electrical cords
- Scalding from hot bath water
- Scalding from hot cooking water or beverages
- Hot devices like space heaters, clothes irons, curling irons
- Eating foods that are too hot
- Chemical burns from unattended cleaning products
- Grills or outdoor fire pits
- Lighted Christmas trees
- Fireworks
- Crawfish boils
Tips for Childhood Burn Injury Prevention
While children cannot always be protected from injuries, there are many things that parents, schools, businesses, and other caretakers can do to help prevent burn injuries. If your child has been burned, it is essential to seek medical attention to avoid scarring or infection immediately.
The scars from burns can have severe and lasting side effects that can impact the way your child moves or functions in the future. A medical professional will be able to apply the most appropriate treatment for the specific type of burn injury that the child has sustained.
Although children may sustain a serious burn injury in many different ways, there are some common sources that caretakers should be aware of when living, working, or in close contact with children. Parents, as well as caregivers, must be particularly attentive to ensure children stay away from circumstances in which a child may cause fires or burns. Teaching children what causes fires or burns can be tremendously helpful in the prevention of burn injuries. Learning and practicing a safety plan in the event of a fire can help save a child’s life.
Consider the following tips from a Louisiana Attorney for children to prevent burn injuries or fires:
- Keep electrical appliances away from children
- Keep lighters, matches, and candles away from children
- Keep hazardous chemicals out of the reach of children
- Opt for stoves and appliances with burn prevention features
- Turn pot handles in on the stove and keep hot liquids away from a child’s reach
Burn Injury Rehabilitation in Children
When a child suffers a traumatic burn injury, it is a devastating event in the life of the child and the family. Burns can have serious, long-term physical, and emotional effects on the victim. Childhood trauma like a burn injury can have a lasting impact on the health and psychological well-being of the child as they move into adulthood.
If a child in your life has sustained a burn injury, they will require intensive treatment and rehabilitation. How will you pay for treatment? Will you lose your job because you need to take care of your child who suffered a burn injury? There will be many questions that caretakers must face during this trying time. If the injury was the fault of another person or entity, you should contact a Louisiana attorney for children who has experience handling burn injury cases in the state of Louisiana.
Burn rehabilitation in children can be a very intense, expensive process for both the patient and their family. Most rehabilitation programs for burn injuries in children focus on the immediate treatment of the burn and the long-term well-being of the child. In addition to the physical scarring and disfigurement, childhood burn victims face unique emotional consequences related to their body image and personality development. A team of medical professionals and specialists will help the child recover both physically and mentally after a severe burn injury.
Occupational and Physical Therapy
A severe burn injury will require extensive medical care immediately after the incident. A child may be bedridden for an extended period resulting in overall muscle weakness and lack of fitness. Scars and contractures can cause a decrease in the range of motion and the use of the impacted body part. Physical and occupational therapists will have a massive role in helping the injured child regain the strength, dexterity, and range of motion that they once enjoyed.
A physical therapist will help the child regain or maximize movement and functional ability after the injury. A physical therapist will work with children who suffered a burn injury using a variety of stretches, exercises, and massage techniques to increase the range of motion and soothe the pain. The child will most likely work with an occupational therapist to regain the abilities and skills the child had before the injury. The occupational therapist will work with the child to relearn daily living skills. The goal of this therapy is to ensure that there is no further delay in reaching the child’s developmental milestones.
Psychological Treatment
A burn injury is a traumatic event for everyone involved. Not only does the injury have the potential to seriously disfigure the body, but it can also negatively impact the victim’s ability to participate in life the way they did before the accident. This type of trauma can leave lasting emotional scars as well as physical scars. For children who suffer from a burn injury, the impact can be even more significant. In addition to physical and occupational therapy, the child should receive help in dealing with the emotional effects of the injury. Childhood and adolescence are developmental stages in which people are figuring out their identities and personalities. It is also a time when many young people might struggle with body image issues. A disfiguring injury like a severe burn can complicate this process even more for a child.
Rehabilitation after a burn injury will be lengthy and challenging for the child burn victim and the family. It is essential that all involved get the support they need from the various medical professionals that will be a part of the rehabilitation process. Families will also need the assistance of a caring and professional burn injury attorney to help them wade through the many legal options after a burn injury.
Contact the Louisiana attorney for children at Cueria Law Firm today to learn how our team might be able to help you get the fair compensation you and your child deserve.