There are few worse experiences for a parent to go through than finding out your child was seriously injured in an accident that another adult caused. Even if your child is able to recover completely with time and appropriate medical care, the expenses associated with that care can be immense, as can the other financial and personal losses that an incident like this may cause.
If your child got hurt because another adult acted recklessly or carelessly, you may want to discuss your options for civil litigation with a compassionate Seattle child injury lawyer. Having assistance from a personal injury attorney who has handled cases of this uniquely sensitive and serious nature before can be a huge help not only with establishing fault for your child’s accident, but also recovering fair financial restitution.
Causes and Effects of Childhood Injuries
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) list sudden falls as the most prevalent source of non-fatal injuries to children, and motor vehicle accidents as the most prevalent cause of fatal childhood injuries. Outside of these situations, child injuries that may justify civil litigation can also arise under a number of other circumstances, including:
Whatever the specific cause of an accident is, children involved in incidents like these often suffer more severe injuries compared to adults, since their bodies are still developing and may not be as resistant to external impacts. Unfortunately, this means that childhood injuries can have a greater capacity to cause permanent and debilitating damage, especially if they involve trauma to the head, spine, limbs, or internal organs.
Any injury stemming from negligence that requires professional medical care—from lacerations to broken bones to catastrophic brain or spine damage—could serve as grounds for a personal injury claim. A knowledgeable Seattle injury attorney could discuss your situation with you in a confidential setting and help identify the best way to protect your child’s best interests.
What Damages Might Be Available to an Injured Minor?
A parent or guardian filing suit on behalf of their injured child—or the injured child filing suit on their own behalf once they are old enough to do so—can demand compensation for both economic and non-economic damages caused by someone else’s negligence. Economic losses are those with objective financial values like emergency medical expenses, long-term care costs, wages lost due to the necessity of childcare, and lost future earning capacity on the child’s part.
Non-economic damages, on the other hand, have subjectively defined values that depend on the unique experiences and challenges that an injured child faces due to their harm. As a child injury lawyer in Seattle could explain, these could include physical pain from injuries, emotional and psychological trauma, lost future opportunities, and lost enjoyment of life.
Call a Seattle Child Injury Attorney for Help
Even though you may be understandably overwhelmed by your child’s injury and the lingering effects it has on your family members’ lives, it can be crucial to take legal action against the person responsible for that harm as soon as possible. State law establishes strict filing deadlines for all forms of civil litigation, and if you fail to retain skilled legal counsel and proactively enforce your rights, you may end up missing out on much-needed compensation.
A qualified Seattle child injury lawyer could be your steadfast ally from beginning to end of whatever claims you want to pursue. Call today for a consultation.
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