Suffering a catastrophic injury is a life-altering event that can leave victims and their families facing overwhelming physical, emotional, and financial challenges. These severe injuries often require extensive medical treatment, long-term care, and significant lifestyle adjustments. In such situations, having an experienced Houston catastrophic injury attorney on your side is crucial to ensuring you receive the compensation and justice you deserve.
Let Hampton & King fight for the justice and compensation you deserve. Call us today at (713) 658-0231 to schedule your free consultation and start rebuilding your future.
A Houston medical malpractice attorney from our firm can help you understand your legal options after an injury resulting from medical negligence.
Why Choose Hampton & King?
Hampton & King focuses exclusively on medical malpractice and negligent security cases, areas of law where catastrophic injuries are most likely to occur. Clients across Texas choose us because:
- We have 70 years of combined experience representing families in complex catastrophic injury and medical negligence cases
- We are selective in the number of cases we take on, allowing our firm to provide personalized attention and dedicate resources to each matter
- We have extensive experience handling claims against hospitals, healthcare systems, and corporate defendants
- We’ve earned top professional recognitions, including repeated honors from Super Lawyers and designation as a Tier 1 Medical Malpractice firm by U.S. News & World Report Best Lawyers
- Hartley Hampton has been named as Medical Malpractice Plaintiff’s Lawyer of the Year twice.
- We’ve recovered tens of millions of dollars for injured clients and their families.
- We have access to top medical experts and financial professionals to fully document catastrophic injuries and future needs.
- We work on a contingency fee basis, meaning you only pay attorney fees if we win.
At Hampton & King, we prepare every case as if it will go to trial and put the full weight of our experience behind every client we represent.
Contact us today to schedule a free consultation with a Houston catastrophic injury lawyer who can help you.
What is a Catastrophic Injury?
Catastrophic injuries refer to severe injuries that have long-term or permanent effects on the victim’s quality of life, health, and ability to work. These injuries typically result in significant physical, emotional, and financial burdens, often requiring extensive medical treatment, rehabilitation, and ongoing care.
Common Characteristics of Catastrophic Injuries
- Permanent Disability: These injuries often lead to the loss of a vital bodily function, such as paralysis, amputation, or blindness.
- Severe Impact on Daily Life: They can hinder a person’s ability to perform basic activities or maintain employment.
- Extensive Medical Needs: Victims may require surgeries, long-term rehabilitation, assistive devices, or home modifications.
- Emotional and Psychological Impact: The trauma of the injury can lead to conditions such as depression, anxiety, or PTSD.
Examples of Catastrophic Injuries in Houston
- Spinal Cord Injuries: Resulting in partial or complete paralysis.
- Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI): Causing cognitive impairments, memory loss, or emotional instability.
- Severe Burns: Leading to disfigurement, chronic pain, or life-threatening infections.
- Amputations: The loss of a limb or limbs, significantly altering mobility and independence.
- Organ Damage: Permanent impairment to organs such as the heart, lungs, or kidneys.
- Multiple Fractures: Especially those requiring extensive surgeries and rehabilitation.
- Severe Neurological Disorders: Stemming from accidents or other injuries.
Causes of Catastrophic Injuries
Catastrophic injuries are often the result of high-impact or dangerous situations, which can include the following scenarios:
- Motor Vehicle Accidents: Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents are among the most common causes of catastrophic injuries. High-speed collisions or accidents involving large vehicles, such as commercial trucks, can lead to traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, or amputations. Pedestrians and cyclists struck by vehicles are also at high risk.
- Negligent Security: Our Houston negligent security lawyers know inadequate security measures at businesses, apartment complexes, parking lots, or public spaces can lead to violent crimes such as assaults, robberies, or shootings. When property owners fail to provide proper lighting, security personnel, or surveillance, visitors and tenants may suffer catastrophic injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord damage, or fatal harm.
- Workplace Incidents: Jobs in construction, manufacturing, or other high-risk industries often involve heavy machinery, dangerous equipment, or hazardous materials. Falls from heights, machinery malfunctions, or explosions can cause severe injuries such as crush injuries, burns, or permanent disabilities.
- Medical Malpractice: Errors by healthcare professionals, including surgical mistakes, misdiagnoses, or anesthesia complications, can result in life-altering conditions such as organ damage, paralysis, or neurological impairments. Our medical malpractice lawyers in Houston are experts at helping victims and their families.
- Defective Products: Unsafe or poorly designed products, such as faulty machinery, vehicle parts, or consumer goods, can cause catastrophic harm. For example, a defective airbag may fail to deploy properly, causing severe injuries in a crash.
- Acts of Violence: Intentional harm, such as assaults, gun violence, or stabbings, can leave victims with long-term or permanent physical and psychological damage, including spinal injuries or traumatic brain injuries.
- Slip and Falls: While often underestimated, slip-and-fall accidents can result in severe outcomes, particularly for older adults. Falls from significant heights, or accidents involving unsafe surfaces, can lead to traumatic brain injuries, broken bones, or spinal damage.
Who May Be Liable for My Catastrophic Injury?
Catastrophic injuries often result in extensive medical expenses and profound changes to a person’s ability to work and live independently. Identifying every liable party is one of the most important steps in a catastrophic injury case.
Under Texas proportionate responsibility laws, every party that contributed to your injury can be held liable for their share of damages.
Medical Malpractice Cases
In cases involving medical malpractice, such as a birth injury case, the responsible parties may include physicians, surgeons, nurses, hospitals, or other healthcare providers. Medical providers may be liable for your injuries if they failed to meet the proper standard of care. In some cases, multiple providers share responsibility for a single catastrophic outcome.
Negligent Security Cases
In negligent security cases, liability often extends to property owners or managers who failed to take reasonable steps to protect guests from foreseeable criminal activity.
These parties may include (but are not limited to):
- Apartment complexes
- Hotels
- Shopping centers
- Parking garages
- Bars, or
- Event venues
If a property owner knew (or should have known) about prior violent incidents and failed to provide adequate security measures, they may be liable for catastrophic injuries related to assault, shooting, or other violent acts.
Catastrophic injury cases often trigger high-value claims. Therefore, defendants frequently try to shift blame to reduce the compensation they owe. A thorough investigation is necessary to uncover all responsible parties and available sources of insurance coverage.
Compensation Available in a Catastrophic Injury Case
Catastrophic injuries often result in damages that extend far into the future. Texas law allows catastrophic injury victims to seek compensation for economic and non-economic damages related to their injuries.
Economic Damages
Economic damages cover measurable financial losses that can be proven with documentation, including:
- Medical bills
- Future medical care
- Long-term rehabilitation and physical therapy
- Prescription medications
- Medical equipment
- Home modifications and assistive devices
- In-home nursing care
- Lost wages and loss of future earning capacity
Catastrophic injuries often prevent a person from returning to their prior career or working at all. Therefore, future economic damages can form a huge portion of a claim. These losses often require testimony from medical experts, life care planners, and economists.
Non-Economic Damages
Non-economic damages compensate for the personal and emotional costs of a catastrophic injury. These losses are subjective and do not have a clear dollar value.
These may include:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of enjoyment of life
- Permanent disfigurement
- Loss of independence
- Loss of consortium or companionship
Texas imposes caps on non-economic damages in medical malpractice cases. These losses are capped at $250,000 per claimant against a single physician or health care provider.
When multiple health care institutions are involved, the total non‑economic damages cap increases to a maximum of $750,000 per claimant, as established by the Texas Medical Liability Act.
These caps do not apply to economic damages, which are fully recoverable.
Wrongful Death Damages
When a catastrophic injury results in the loss of life, Texas law allows certain surviving family members to pursue a wrongful death claim.
These damages are designed to address both the financial and personal losses suffered by the family due to their loved one’s death. Eligible claimants typically include a surviving spouse, children, and parents of the deceased.
Wrongful death damages may include compensation for lost financial support, including the income the deceased would have provided over their lifetime. Families may also recover money for loss of companionship and emotional suffering caused by the death. In some cases, funeral and burial expenses may also be recoverable.
An experienced catastrophic injury lawyer can help you track and calculate the full extent of your damages. Call Hampton & King for help understanding the value of your claim.
How Long Do I Have to File a Claim in Texas?
Texas law places strict time limits on catastrophic injury claims. These deadlines, or “statutes of limitations,” vary depending on the type of case.
For most catastrophic personal injury cases, including negligent security claims, the statute of limitations is two years from the date of the injury. If you fail to file your lawsuit within that time period, you will lose the right to seek compensation in court. There are exceptions for minors, for whom the statute of limitations may toll (pause) until the child reaches 18.
Medical malpractice cases have additional and often more complex timing rules. Generally, these cases are also subject to a two-year deadline. However, the clock may begin running from the injury, or, in limited circumstances, the date the injury was discovered (if later). Medical malpractice claims also require strict pre-suit procedures, including an affidavit of merit from a medical expert.
Contact an experienced injury lawyer for help identifying and complying with the deadlines in your case.
Contact Our Houston Catastrophic Injury Team Today
If you or a loved one has suffered a catastrophic injury, it’s important to consult with experienced legal professionals to explore your rights to compensation for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and future care needs.
At Hampton & King, we understand the devastating impact of catastrophic injuries and are dedicated to helping victims navigate the complex legal system. We fight tirelessly to hold negligent parties accountable and secure financial recovery for medical expenses, lost wages, pain and suffering, and future care needs.
With compassionate support and aggressive advocacy, we stand by your side every step of the way. Let us help you focus on healing while we handle the legal complexities of your case.
Call us at (713) 658-0231 or fill out our simple online form to get your free consultation scheduled.