If you have suffered an injury due to a burn, you may be feeling angry and want to know what you can do now. In the meantime, here are some burn injuries explained by our Rochester personal injury attorney.

Burn Injuries Explained | Light Burns

Everyone knows what a sunburn feels like: skin turns red and becomes sensitive to the slightest touch. If you spend a day outside and come home with a sunburn, you have only yourself to blame. However, if a caregiver leaves a child or an elderly person in the sun too long due to carelessness, the child or elderly person might be entitled to compensation. If you were burned in a tanning bed, you might also be able to pursue a successful claim, depending on the frequency, scope, and detail of any warnings, and in any case of faulty equipment.

Burn Injuries Explained | Thermal Burns

You can also burn your skin from direct exposure to high temperatures – for example, touching a stove. The most famous example of a personal injury case resulting from a thermal burn is Liebeck v. McDonald’s (1994), in which a 49-cent cup of coffee led to an undisclosed settlement probably between $400-600,000. While the “hot coffee” case remains controversial, still the poster child for tort reform more than 20 years later, it offers valuable lessons about claims for thermal burns. Liebeck’s attorneys won the case in part because the jury deemed the coffee to be unreasonably and dangerously hot, and the warning on the cup to be inadequate. If you’ve suffered a thermal burn, dangerous temperatures, unsafe conditions, and inadequate warnings could all entitle you to a claim.

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Burn Injuries Explained | Chemical Burns

Most chemical burns result from household products like bleach, chlorine, and other cleaning solutions. These burns can be devastating, affecting the deepest layers of your skin.

Burn Injuries Explained | Electrical Burns

Electric burns result from high-voltage electricity traveling through the body. Lightning could be a cause, but more commonly electrical burns come from contact with an electrical outlet, wire, or appliance. Beyond burns, enough voltage could damage internal organs and even cause the heart to stop. The most severe electrical burns usually occur in a construction or industrial site.

Burn Injuries Explained | First Degree

These are superficial, damaging only the top layer of skin (the epidermis: e.g. sunburn).

Burn Injuries Explained | Second Degree

These burns extend into the second layer of skin (the dermis).

Burn Injuries Explained | Third Degree

These burns damage the epidermis, dermis, and fatty tissue beneath the skin. Third degree burns cause damage to the skin’s nerve endings and could result in permanent disfigurement. Third degree burns require long-term, painful treatment.

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