Austin Child Injury Lawyers

Child Injury Statistics

Injuries to children are so common that treatment for them is the primary medical expense that parents incur for their children.

Child injuries are so common, in fact, that:

• The total cost of treating them amounts to more than $11 billion each year
• More than 9 million children are treated for unintentional injuries each year (over 12,000 of them die from the injuries)
• The causes of injury tend to vary depending on the child’s age, but falls are the most common overall (2.8 million visits to the ER annually)
• Automobile accidents of all kinds are the next most common cause of child injuries, for older children especially
• According to statistics from the CDC, during 2014, 602 children ages 12 and younger were killed in motor vehicle accidents and more than 121,350 children ages 12 and younger were injured
• Bites and stings from animals and insects also account for a significant number of child injuries, as do burns and being struck by some object

The kinds of injuries that most often result in child death are automobile accidents, pedestrian accidents, and bike accidents.

Injuries to Children Are Often More Harmful

Children, by definition, are not yet fully developed. That fact makes certain kinds of injuries to children more damaging than similar injuries would be to an adult. For example, a child who suffers an injury to a growth plate in a bone will not have normal growth development. Children, especially younger ones, have yet to acquire many intellectual skills; a brain injury that hampers that development is likely to be more devastating than a similar injury to an adult who has already developed those skills.

And, by simple virtue of their youth, children have longer to live. They will experience any permanent injury for a longer time and, if the injury causes their death, they will lose more years from their expected life span.

Emotional & Psychological Damage: PTSD

Children who experience a significant injury often display emotional and psychological problems as a result. These may be serious enough to qualify as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as defined by the psychiatric community. The more severe the trauma, the more likely it is that emotional and psychological problems will occur.

These problems add to the stress on both child and family and, if they continue for the long term, can limit the child’s social and intellectual development. In some instances, the emotional and psychological injuries make up a significant portion of the overall damages. But recovery for these injuries can be very tricky, since the symptoms are very difficult to distinguish from other conditions that afflict children of similar age, like attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Get Help for Your Injured Child

Handling a child injury case requires four things:

• Experience with the specific kind of injury (playground fall, bicycle accident, pedestrian-auto accident, etc.); each type presents different problems in gathering evidence and witnesses
• Experience with the legal principles that determine the liability of specific people who may be responsible for the injury (daycare attendants, commercial drivers, local governments, etc.)
• Experience with computing both present and future damages that are specific to children (the effect of growth plate injuries, the likelihood of PTSD and/or emotional problems, etc.)
• Experience with both settling with the defendant and trying the case in court when a fair settlement isn’t possible