Electric Shock Injury

Electrical shocks that cause injury can be extremely traumatic experiences and can result in long term disabilities. It is fortunate that the law covers electric shock injuries very thoroughly and more often than not claims can be successfully attained from those responsible for the injuries.

Electrical shocks can cause injuries that vary in severity, electrical current passing through the human body will cause burns along the path the electric current takes through the body. Sometimes electric shocks will simply cause surface (skin) burns while other times it will actually cause burns and damage to internal organs. The problem is that the appearances of external wounds have no bearing on the amount of damage that electrical shocks have done internally thus the danger of passing it off as “a small shock”. Even with small external wounds or burns internal organs may be severely damaged.

Generally the severity of the damage can be accessed by a few factors relating to the electrical shock incident. Some of these factors include the length electric shock, the intensity of the voltage, the route of current flow, the victim’s state of health at the moment and also the speed and accuracy of the treatment right after the injury.

Some examples of injury caused by electrical shock include cardiac arrest due to the currents negative effects on the heart, skin burns at the contact points, brain damage, loss of appendages from the blow-out effect of the electricity and also muscle and nerve destruction because of the electricity’s heat generated.

Although electricity shock injuries do happen in the home the majority of litigation is for occupational health and safety deficiencies at the work place. Electricity injury is the leading cause of occupational fatalities in America today. According to the Center for Injury Sciences (CIS), on-job electrocutions are the most common in electrical tradesmen, construction, manufacturing, mining and agriculture.

The unfortunate truth is that many families have been negatively affected by having their main bread winner electrocuted and not taking the proper steps to first seek proper treatment and also claim for their rightful compensations. Because electric shock injuries happen quite often in working sites many victims think that the injury happens on the job thus is only covered by their worker’s compensation. In many cases, especially if there is a death, claims can be made directly to the liable party including the employer in the form of a wrongful death case.

If you or any of your family members have been affected by a electrocution it is in your interest to contact an experienced personal injury lawyer to look over you case and determine if you can extend your claims to more appropriate levels. In many cases, victims may not even claim for future therapy and medical expenses which will definitely burden them in the future if the claims were done inappropriately.