Electrical burns after being electrocuted may seem minor. The real damage lies hidden under the skin.
Electrocution is perhaps one of the more unusual injuries an individual may sustain, largely because a great deal of the damage may be unseen. Unseen however, does not mean they are not serious and indeed, life threatening. One of the consequences of electrocution happens to be burns and at first glance, these may seem to be insignificant. Nothing could be further from the truth, as burns cut deep into the tissue under the skin’s surface.
Tissue damage under the skin may be so extensive that the limb involved – say an arm or leg – may have to be amputated. Typically, electrical burns are the worst at the point of contact – meaning the ground and the source. In most instances, the source is the hands or head and the ground is usually the feet. The longer the contact with the source, the worse the injuries tend to be. I’ve seen my fair share of these types of injuries during my years of practice as a New Mexico personal injury lawyer.
If we’re talking about high-voltage burns, victims would normally have a “contact” burn where the source was touched and one on exit or grounding. Imagine if you were the path of electricity as it courses through a person’s body, doing severe damage as it winds its way to an exit point. This is another reason why what you see on the outside does not tell you what the inside looks like.
Arc burns unfortunately don’t tend to happen at a low voltage; they happen when the electricity passes from a point of high resistance to a point of low resistance. Again, you’d find burns at the contact and exit points; burns that are either flash or flame burns which vary in severity.
Flash burns are the result of an electrical arc that passes over the surface of a person’s body. This type of burn doesn’t usually affect internal tissues and luckily, the burns may be superficial, although they do tend to be large. Flame burns (thermal burns) come about when a person’s clothes catch on fire.
Low voltage burns are the result of several seconds of contact with a source and will vary in severity depending on the length of contact. Oral burns are normally the result of a child sucking or biting an electrical cord and the current crosses from one side of the mouth to the other. This is nothing to mess with and damages may be extremely severe and cause deformity. They may also put the child at risk for respiratory arrest, as a burn like this may affect the airway. Never assume a burn like this is nothing to worry about. They don’t always look as bad as they really are.
Survival rates for electrical burn victims have improved quite a bit over the years, but there are still high rates of death and amputations. The treatment is prolonged and very aggressive and usually there will be ongoing rehabilitation. This will mean an enormous expense for the victim and their family. For this reason, contacting a dedicated and highly trained New Mexico personal injury lawyer will help you recover damages to allow you to continue your treatments and recovery.
Scott Atkinson was admitted to practice in New Mexico in 1989 and is a New Mexico personal injury lawyer and New Mexico wrongful death lawyer with the Atkinson Law Firm, LTD. Learn more at Attorneynewmexico.com or call 1.505.944.1050.
