When you think about traumatic injuries, burns might not immediately come to mind. However, they are among the most expensive and agonizing.
Burns are also more common than you might think in catastrophic car accidents. This is especially true if people cannot immediately escape the vehicles.
Burns cost much more than the average injury
One of the issues with these types of injury is that they are expensive. All injuries are costly with current medical prices, but burns would cost you much more than most others. In fact, according to the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, burn-related hospital stays are double the average price.
There are many reasons that these injuries are so costly. One is the rapid pace of treatment — you have well over a 95-percent chance of survival after a burn. In the mid-to-late 20th century, even a 20-percent burn coverage probably would have killed you.
Burn treatment is often agonizing and traumatizing
Another cost that you will not see on your hospital bill is your own pain and suffering. Without going into gruesome detail, severe injuries often require grafting, stretching and long-term maintenance of burn sites. You might also experience mental or emotional damage from the injury and, possibly, from the treatment.
Assuming treatment goes well, as it often does these days, you might also have to deal with a certain level of disfigurement. Burns often create extensive scarring, even with the most advanced techniques. If your injury is noticeable and depending on your line of work, this could significantly change various aspects of your life.
There is no way to say for sure, on a general basis, what your burn injury is worth. That is why initial insurance offers usually do not make sense. These estimates do not typically take into account your unique situation, your trauma or the details of your specific injury.