Catastrophic Injury Lawyers Serving Pittsburgh

Life-Changing Injuries in Pittsburgh Require Experienced Legal Representation

A catastrophic injury can permanently change the course of your life. Beyond the immediate physical trauma, these injuries may require extensive medical treatment, long-term rehabilitation, ongoing care, and major changes to the way you work and live. Catastrophic injury cases require a careful evaluation of what an injury will mean not only today, but years into the future. Our attorneys investigate the cause of the injury, identify responsible parties, document its financial and personal impact, and work with qualified experts when necessary to understand future medical, care, and financial needs.

If you or someone you love suffered a catastrophic injury in Pittsburgh because of another person or company’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation for both your current losses and the long-term impact of the injury. The Pittsburgh catastrophic injury lawyers at Bordas & Bordas represent individuals and families facing the consequences of serious, life-changing injuries.

At Bordas & Bordas, we handle personal injury claims for people who have suffered brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, and other serious and life-changing injuries. A Pittsburgh catastrophic injury lawyer at our firm has the knowledge and resources to handle complex injuries arising from car accidents, medical malpractice, and other forms of negligence. Our record of success gives our clients confidence that a proven legal advocate is in their corner.

What Is Considered a Catastrophic Injury?

A catastrophic injury is a severe injury that results in long-term or permanent impairment and significantly affects a person’s ability to work, live independently, or perform everyday activities.

Unlike injuries from which someone is expected to make a relatively complete recovery, catastrophic injuries can create medical, financial, and personal consequences that continue for years or a lifetime. An injured person may require ongoing medical treatment, rehabilitation, assistive equipment, modifications to their home or vehicle, or help with daily activities.

Because these cases require an understanding of both current and future losses, catastrophic injury claims may involve medical professionals, life-care planners, economists, vocational experts, and other specialists who can help evaluate the long-term impact of the injury.

What Are the Most Common Types of Catastrophic Injuries?

Many different injuries can be considered catastrophic when they cause permanent or long-term impairment. Common types include:

• Traumatic brain injuries (TBI): Serious brain injuries can affect memory, cognition, communication, behavior, mobility, and the ability to perform everyday activities.
• Spinal cord injuries: Damage to the spinal cord can cause partial or complete paralysis, loss of sensation, chronic pain, and other lifelong complications.
• Severe burns: Serious burns can cause permanent scarring, disfigurement, nerve damage, limited mobility, and the need for multiple surgeries or long-term treatment.
• Amputations and loss of limbs: Losing a limb can affect mobility, employment, independence, and quality of life and may require prosthetics, rehabilitation, and ongoing medical care.
• Severe orthopedic injuries: Complex fractures, crush injuries, and serious damage to joints or other parts of the musculoskeletal system can result in permanent limitations, chronic pain, or disability.
• Organ damage: Serious trauma can damage internal organs and may require surgery, long-term treatment, or lifelong medical monitoring.
• Vision or hearing loss: Permanent blindness, impaired vision, deafness, or significant hearing loss can dramatically affect a person’s ability to work, live independently, and perform everyday activities.
• Permanent nerve damage: Serious nerve injuries can result in loss of movement or sensation, chronic pain, weakness, and other lasting impairments.

When a catastrophic injury is caused by someone else’s negligence, a personal injury claim should account for both the losses already experienced and the long-term medical, financial, and personal consequences of the injury.

What Causes Catastrophic Injuries in Pittsburgh?

Catastrophic injuries can result from many types of accidents and negligent conduct. In Pittsburgh and throughout Western Pennsylvania, serious injuries may result from:

• Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents
• Pedestrian and bicycle accidents
• Medical negligence
• Workplace and industrial accidents
• Defective or dangerous products
• Falls and unsafe property conditions
• Fires and explosions
• Other preventable incidents

Determining how the injury occurred is an important part of identifying who may be legally responsible. Depending on the circumstances, responsibility could extend beyond the person directly involved in the accident to an employer, business, property owner, manufacturer, medical provider, or another party.

How Is a Catastrophic Injury Claim Different From Other Injury Claims?

Catastrophic injury claims are different from many other personal injury claims because the consequences may last for years or for the rest of a person’s life. The claim must account not only for what the injury has already cost, but also for how it may affect the injured person and their family in the future.

A catastrophic injury claim may involve significant future medical expenses, rehabilitation, long-term care, lost earning capacity, permanent disability, pain and suffering, and changes to the injured person’s ability to work, live independently, and participate in everyday life.

These cases can require extensive investigation and expert analysis. Medical professionals may help establish the injured person’s prognosis and future treatment needs, while vocational and economic experts may evaluate the effects on employment and future earnings. Life-care planners and other specialists may help determine what care, equipment, assistance, or accommodations will be necessary over time.

Understanding those future needs is particularly important before resolving a catastrophic injury claim. Once a claim is settled, an injured person generally cannot return later to seek additional compensation because their condition changed or their care became more expensive than anticipated.

Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

FAQs About Pittsburgh Catastrophic Injury Claims

Learn more about catastrophic injury claims, long-term care costs, and how a Pittsburgh catastrophic injury lawyer may help you and your family.

What should I do after a catastrophic injury?

After a catastrophic injury, getting appropriate medical care should be the first priority. Once the immediate medical emergency is addressed, it’s important to preserve information and evidence related to how the injury occurred. Depending on the circumstances, this may include:

• Photographs or video
• Accident or incident reports
• Witness information
• Medical records
• Insurance information
• Communications with the people, businesses, or insurance companies involved

Avoid signing releases or accepting a settlement before you understand the extent of the injury and its potential long-term consequences.

A Pittsburgh catastrophic injury lawyer can investigate how the injury occurred, preserve evidence, identify potentially responsible parties and available insurance coverage, and begin documenting both the immediate and long-term effects of the injury.

Who can be held responsible for a catastrophic injury in Pennsylvania?

Responsibility depends on how and where the injury occurred. In some catastrophic injury cases, more than one person, business, or organization may be legally responsible.

Potentially responsible parties may include negligent drivers, trucking companies, property owners, employers or contractors, manufacturers of defective products, medical providers, and other individuals or organizations whose conduct contributed to the injury.

Identifying all potentially responsible parties can be particularly important when an injury requires extensive medical treatment or lifelong care. Different parties may also have different insurance policies or other sources of compensation available.

A Pittsburgh catastrophic injury attorney can investigate the circumstances surrounding the injury, determine who may be responsible under Pennsylvania law, and identify potential sources of compensation.

Can I recover compensation if I was partly at fault for the accident that caused my catastrophic injury?

Possibly. Pennsylvania follows a modified comparative negligence rule, which means being partially responsible for an accident does not necessarily prevent you from recovering compensation.

Generally, if your share of negligence is not greater than the negligence of the defendant or defendants from whom you are seeking compensation, you may still recover damages. However, your compensation can be reduced according to your percentage of fault. For example, if you were found 20% responsible for an accident and your damages were $1 million, your recovery could be reduced by 20%.

Fault can be especially important in catastrophic injury cases because the damages may be substantial. A Pittsburgh catastrophic injury lawyer can investigate what happened, preserve evidence, and challenge allegations of fault when appropriate.

How is the value of a catastrophic injury claim determined?

There is no standard value for a catastrophic injury claim. The amount depends on the circumstances of the injury and the extent of its short- and long-term effects.

In addition to medical bills and income already lost, a claim may need to account for future medical treatment, rehabilitation, long-term care, reduced earning capacity, assistive equipment, home or vehicle modifications, permanent disability, pain and suffering, disfigurement, and loss of enjoyment of life.

Because many of these losses might not have occurred yet when a claim begins, attorneys may work with medical professionals, life-care planners, vocational specialists, economists, and other experts to evaluate future needs and costs. Understanding those future losses is particularly important before resolving a catastrophic injury case.

What does long-term care after a catastrophic injury cost?

There is no single cost for long-term care after a catastrophic injury. The amount depends on the type and severity of the injury, the injured person’s age and prognosis, and the medical care and assistance they may need in the future.

Long-term costs may include:

• Future medical treatment and surgeries
• Physical, occupational, or other rehabilitation
• Prescription medications
• In-home nursing or personal care
• Long-term residential or skilled nursing care
• Prosthetics, wheelchairs, and other assistive equipment
• Home or vehicle modifications
• Transportation to medical appointments
• Mental health care
• Assistance with everyday activities

A catastrophic injury may also prevent someone from returning to their previous occupation or from working at all, resulting in lost future income and earning capacity.

Because these expenses can continue for years or even a lifetime, determining the value of a claim requires evaluating both current losses and reasonably anticipated future needs.

What are the long-term effects of a catastrophic injury?

A catastrophic injury can affect nearly every part of a person’s life. Depending on the type and severity of the injury, recovery may require extensive medical treatment, rehabilitation, ongoing therapy, assistive equipment, home modifications, and long-term or lifelong care.

Some people cannot return to the work they performed before the injury or may be unable to work at all. A catastrophic injury can also affect mobility, independence, relationships, and the ability to perform everyday activities.

The financial impact can be significant. In addition to immediate medical bills and lost wages, an injured person may face future medical expenses, reduced earning capacity, rehabilitation costs, and the expense of personal or in-home care.

For families in Pittsburgh and throughout Western Pennsylvania, these long-term consequences are an important part of a catastrophic injury claim. A lawyer can work with medical, financial, and other experts to understand the full impact of the injury and pursue compensation for current losses and future needs.

How Long Do I Have to File a Catastrophic Injury Claim in Pennsylvania?

In most Pennsylvania personal injury cases, an injured person generally has two years to file a lawsuit. However, a catastrophic injury does not have its own statute of limitations. The deadline depends on the type of legal claim involved and the circumstances surrounding the injury.

Different rules may apply when a catastrophic injury results from medical negligence or involves a government entity. The age of the injured person and other circumstances may also affect the applicable deadline.

Even when you have two years to file a lawsuit, waiting can make a catastrophic injury case more difficult to investigate. Evidence can disappear, witnesses can become harder to locate, and these complex cases may require significant time to evaluate future medical and financial needs.

A Pittsburgh catastrophic injury lawyer can determine which deadlines apply to your case and take steps to preserve evidence and protect your right to seek compensation.

What Compensation May Be Available After a Catastrophic Injury in Pennsylvania?

If a catastrophic injury was caused by someone else’s negligence, compensation may be available for both the immediate losses resulting from the injury and its long-term consequences.

Depending on the circumstances, recoverable damages may include:

• Medical expenses
• Future medical treatment and rehabilitation
• Lost wages
• Loss of future earning capacity
• Home and vehicle modifications
• Long-term care expenses
• Pain and suffering
• Emotional distress
• Permanent disability
• Disfigurement
• Loss of enjoyment of life

The compensation available depends on the facts of the case, who was responsible, applicable Pennsylvania law, available insurance coverage, and the short- and long-term effects of the injury.

Bordas & Bordas works to identify and document the full impact of an injury so our clients can pursue compensation for both the losses they have already experienced and the needs they may face in the future.

Talk With a Pittsburgh Catastrophic Injury Lawyer

At Bordas & Bordas, we represent individuals and families whose lives have been permanently altered by serious injuries caused by negligence. Our attorneys handle complex catastrophic injury claims arising from motor vehicle accidents, medical malpractice, workplace accidents, defective products, and other preventable incidents.

When an injury may affect you or your family for the rest of your life, understanding its long-term consequences is critical. Our Pittsburgh legal team can investigate what happened, identify the parties who may be responsible, evaluate available sources of compensation, and help you understand your legal options.

Contact Bordas & Bordas to speak with a Pittsburgh catastrophic injury lawyer and schedule an initial consultation.

Contact Bordas & Bordas for a Free Consultation

Whatever type of injury you have suffered, it is important to have an experienced attorney protecting your rights. The defendants in these cases, usually insurance companies, will work hard to limit, delay and deny your compensation. An experienced Pittsburgh catastrophic injury lawyer at our firm knows how to counter their strategies to obtain successful results for people like you.