Medical Malpractice On Fireworks Injuries During The Fourth Of July: Insult To Injury!

As the United States celebrates Independence Day, personal injury lawyers cringe for several reasons.  The new wave of residents just started yesterday, adding inexperienced and mistake-prone healthcare providers throughout the country and our hospitals.  More Americans will travel this year than any other year according to studies, which means more motor vehicle accidents and fatalities due to the increase in traffic and the amount of people.  And BBQs bring out some drunken antics which result in slip and falls, injuries during sports, and other accidents due to drunk behavior.

This also means fireworks and fireworks injuries.  These are explosives meant to blow up.  People can get serious injured with these devices, even if you don’t think it is possible.  Small firecrackers can break bones and destroy tissue permanently.  No one is safe.  Take, for example, the case of Giant’s football player Jason Pierre-Paul who lost fingers and was seriously injured in a fireworks accident.  He was able to continue playing football, but he has had difficulty since the accident.

When a victim of a fireworks accident comes to the hospital, healthcare providers must take several immediate steps to protect the victim’s life.  The trauma of being in an explosion is significant.  Organs and arteries can be permanently damages and bleeding which need to get under control immediately.  Infection is another very serious concern, as open wounds like those from a fireworks injury can allow bacteria to fester.  Untreated infections can result in sepsis which is a full-body infection.

Other injuries caused by fireworks accidents include to tendons.  Damaged tendons must be repaired within 8-16 days or they will not return to normal or near-normal functioning.  If a healthcare provider delays in treating damage to the tendons, it will permanently injure a victim.

Because fireworks result in explosions, broken bones are also common.  If bones are broken, they need to be properly set and repaired.  If casts are put on too tight before the swelling is under control, the swelling may continue and cut off circulation to that part of the body.  This can cause nerve, artery, and muscle damage.  This is also medical malpractice.