With today’s medicine and the use of burn centers, far more people survive severe burns now than they did just a few decades ago. According to the National Institutes for Health (NIH), in the mid 1970’s about 9,000 people died from burn injuries n the U.S. each year. Burn units and burn centers were rare and those with burns over more than 20% of their bodies rarely survived. Today, more than half of burn injury victims are treated in burn centers and people can survive burns covering as much as 90% of their bodies. Although burn injury survival rates have greatly improved, there are still about 3,800 burn fatalities each year.
Causes of Death Following Burn Injury
The majority of deaths, following burn injuries, are due to multiple organ failure and infection. Burn injury complications that can lead to death include:
- Infection
- Sepsis
- Respiratory failure
- Hypothermia
- Brain injury due to lack of oxygen (anoxia)
- Extreme malnutrition
Infections
Burn injury patients are extremely vulnerable to infection because the skin acts as a barrier to the airborne pathogens that cause infections. Burn injury patients are also at risk of infection due to the medical devices used in their treatment, such as catheters and ventilators.
Infection, in burn injury patients, can easily lead to sepsis. Sepsis must be treated quickly to avoid death, but the initial symptoms are often overlooked.
Smoke Inhalation
Burn injury patients who have inhalation injuries are greater than three times more likely to die from their injuries. 73& of burn injury patients with smoke inhalation develop respiratory complications and 20% develop acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
If you have lost someone you love to burn injuries as a result of someone else’s negligence or wrongdoing, you may be able to recover compensation trough a wrongful death lawsuit. Please, do not wait until it is too late to take legal action. Contact an experienced burn injury attorney today.
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