Survival after a traumatic injury

Surviving a traumatic injury such as a burn has two components that are related. First, the physical component, your medical treatment, surgeries, drugs, and all of the things that happen in the hospital all effect what happens. This part takes place in your body with your doctors help.

The second component is the non-physical component. Making a decision to live has a tremendous effect on the physical component, but to make such a decision requires faith in a future that seems completely unknown. Faith that life is indeed worth living. You fight against negative mental constructs. Words like "attractive", "ugly", and "self-worth" may need to be deconstructed and re-defined in your brain. You may find out you didn't really know what any of those words meant. Being burned lends itself to being grateful for the mundane things in life: air, breathing, walking, playing with children, being present for holidays etc. That is a gift. Being mindful of those things is easy early on in the injury when you first get out of the hospital. After you've healed and some time has passed, this may be more difficult. Being mindful of what is happening right now, re-defining with each moment what and who you are is possible and necessary and really going on whether you want it to or not.

Support plays a key role. Being in the burn unit is an isolating experience. To support someone who has been burned -- show up! Help with whatever needs to be done at that time. That makes all the difference and gives that person more strength than you will ever know.

Ongoing Issues for Burn Survivors

I just finished up two burn cases this past year. Placing myself in the middle of a burn litigation poses a unique opportunity for personal growth. Having permanent facial/body scars and the history of a traumatic burn injury continues to teach me things as life goes on. Seeing the world, and the burn injury, through the eyes of my clients forces me to look at my experience with fresh eyes. What does it mean to be different, to be looked at by strangers, to be scarred? The fact that I am burned is not lost on opposing counsel. I still sometimes am surprised by my own appearance. What makes me who I am comes from far beyond this body.

What about the issue of fault? Lawsuits focus on fault - liability - so that someone can be called upon to pay for the damages. Ultimately, issues of fault are sometimes complicated legally. Sometimes juries have to determine degrees of fault for all parties. Fault plays a part legally, and spiritually for a burn survivor. It's important for lawyers to understand this, and be sensitive to this issue.

February 27, 2008

I would like to welcome you to my blog. Burnsurvivorusa.com has been up and running now for a few years, and finally I've added a blog. Much has been happening in the past year. We have represented some amazing burn clients and have had success in obtaining excellent results. As always, I want to keep examining my experience as a burn survivor and keep communicating with other burn survivors. Having the chance for the last several years to be involved in burn litigation as an attorney has given my life a new and exciting facet.

I celebrated my 15th anniversary of my burn last August 16. It's interesting how my perspectives keep changing with time. Coping and perservering with a traumatic injury is a long-term process. I continue to learn new things about myself and the world through having had this injury.

In the last month or so I've had the pleasure of corresponding with a German photographer, Detlef Henrich, who happens to also be a burn survivor. He is an amazing artist who photographs burn survivors and exhibits the photographs around the world. I will hopefully have some of his work posted on my website in the near future.