What Can Family Members Do When Their Loved One Suffers a Life-Changing Injury?

Almost every time when someone suffers from a catastrophic injury that changes their life forever, more than just one life is affected as a result of that incident. Aside from the emotional burden, there are often hefty economic issues that accompany such situations and not everyone is as well equipped to deal with all of that as a few are. 

On that note, today we are going to take a look at what possible steps family members can take after they have been informed that one of their loved ones has suffered a life-changing injury.

Response and Vigilance

Depending on which stage and what kind of an accident we are talking about here, the actual response will differ, of course. If the family members have just been informed about the injury, the response should be to get to the hospital and talk to the attending doctor. From there, it’s a long road that makes its way through treatment and rehabilitation.

A point to remember would be to stay vigilant and collect all medical documents, which include everything from the doctors’ prescriptions and diagnostic reports to even bills given to you by the pharmacist while buying the prescribed meds. Not only will they be necessary to claim insurance, but there might be more need for all that documentation later on.

Understand, Accept and Prepare

Now, as we are talking about life-changing, traumatic injuries, you need to understand, accept, and prepare for the following.

• Understand what kind of an injury it is (brain trauma, limb debilitation, paralysis, spinal cord injuries, severe disfigurement, etc.)
• Know what the course of treatment would involve and the expected results
• Understand the expenses that will be necessary to follow each avenue of treatment available
• Accept the situation and your own decisions regarding various aspects of the injury management procedure
• Prepare for the psychological, social, personal, and financial effects of the life-changing injury, based on your understanding of the above
• Prepare a list of changes you will need to make, in order to accommodate the new conditions
• Be prepared to make mistakes and correct them along the way

Help them Stay Away from Depression

A life-changing injury is almost always followed up by depression, which is quite natural but can also be another severe cause for concern. Make sure that you keep a close eye on the injured family member so that he/she doesn’t become overly depressed, post the injury.

This is easier said than done, of course, but depression can make a severely debilitated person further degrade mentally and physically, while some may even turn suicidal.

Figure Out If You Can Get a Compensation from the Responsible Party, Where Applicable

Not every accident is someone else’s fault, but most of them are, although it may not seem like it initially. Whether it was a car accident, a truck accident or a workplace accident, if the injured or deceased family member had to suffer his/her ill fate due to someone else’s fault, prepare to take legal action against them.

In case you live in Pennsylvania, or if the family member has suffered his/her injury within the state, you need a catastrophic injury law firm that specializes in working with the state’s directives for personal injury cases. An experienced lawyer knows exactly who should be sued for getting the maximum possible compensation.

Also, being experienced in dealing with hundreds of personal injury cases throughout the years, a catastrophic injury law firm should also be able to tell the family members right away whether they have a good chance of winning or not.

Do keep in mind that in case of wrongful death due to the suffered injuries, whether it’s caused by an accident or medical negligence, the surviving family members are entitled to compensation as well.