Defining Incapacitation in McKinney Catastrophic Injury Cases

A catastrophic injury is a long-term or permanent trauma to an individual, primarily to the neck, brain, and spinal cord, as well as severe burns. While that core definition is rarely in dispute, what may be more important to a person’s recovery is how severe their incapacitation is and how long it is expected to continue.

Defining incapacitation in McKinney catastrophic injury cases is a crucial aspect of pursuing positive results in these claims. Without the assistance of an experienced traumatic injury attorney, demonstrating incapacitation by yourself may be difficult, and more importantly, it may cause you to miss out on much-needed compensation.  The value of your claim is very often what your lawyer can make the value of your claim.  The insurance company and their lawyers will never help you in this regard.

Understanding Incapacitation

The definition of “incapacitation” can vary depending on the circumstances. Something that is incapacitating to one person might not be to another. Many times that has to do with individual functions—what someone does on a day-to-day basis, and how they do those things.

A small injury to a person’s hands might cause some discomfort and be a relatively minor case if somebody is out of commission for a few months with a hand injury—unless, for instance, they are a dentist. Then, it is going to be incapacitating because a few months can wreck their entire practice. Patients might leave and go to other dentists if they cannot be taken care of, so the long-term effect can be devastating.

Defining “incapacitation” in McKinney catastrophic injury cases depends upon each situation. That is one of the reasons why a law firm must take the time to get to know who an injured person is and how these injuries have truly affected them, so they can determine whether it is something that has long-term incapacitating effects for them.

What Is the Spectrum of Incapacitation?

The spectrum of incapacitation runs from severe impairment for a short period with no long-term impairment, to long-term impairment that is severe for a person’s entire life. They could alternatively have an impairment that is minor and lasts for a long time, which can be irritating. Those types of injuries can be valuable injuries in terms of recoverable damages, but the more severe ones are those that prevent function for a long time.

The matter of incapacitation in McKinney catastrophic accident claims comes down to, “Is this an injury that is going to have terrible, long-term effects, or is this something that this person is going to be able to recover from after a few weeks or months?” The answer to that question depends upon the person.

Usually, the line is drawn based on the function that the person has. For example, a traumatic brain injury, if it is long-lasting, is going to affect everybody. However, a short-term TBI can be devastating for some people and not to others.

Discuss Incapacitation and Catastrophic Injuries with a McKinney Attorney

Figuring out how to approach a catastrophic injury case can be tough under any circumstances. However, it could be impossible if you cannot define the degrees to which your injury incapacitates you, or how long that incapacitation is expected to last. Without being able to make assertions about what financial recovery should account for and present evidence to back up those assertions, your case may have low odds of succeeding. Call a catastrophic injury lawyer today to make sure you can accurately define incapacitation in your McKinney catastrophic injury case.