Westchester County Blindness Injury Lawyer
No one is ever prepared to cope with the sudden loss of vision. Blindness alters your life forever. You must deal with the emotional shock and physical trauma the injury caused, and wonder where to turn for answers. Blindness can be caused by a variety of accidents that traumatize the eyes or the head. For example, vision can be impacted by blows to the head in a car accident, slip and fall accident, or an accident in the workplace. Vision loss can even result from a traumatic brain injury from an intentional assault. If you have vision loss due to the negligence or intentional act of someone else, contact an experienced Westchester County blindness injury lawyer at Stephen Bilkis & Associates for advice and guidance. You may be entitled to compensation for your significant loss, including reimbursement for medical expenses, pain and suffering, and loss of income.
Common Causes of Loss of SightThere are many types of accidents that can lead to vision loss. A head injury may lead to blindness. Head injuries can occur in falls, car accidents, or in assaults. Extremely bright lights that sometime accompany explosions can result in blindness, as well as foreign objects piercing the eye. These types of injuries can lead to damage to the brain's occipital cortex, retinal detachment, lacerations, and corneal abrasion, resulting in permanent or temporary blindness. Whether the accident was a car accident, trip and fall accident, construction accident, or any other type of accident, in most cases the accident was due to the negligence and could have been avoided. If you or someone you care about suffered total or partial vision loss in an accident, contact an experienced Westchester County blindness injury lawyer.
There are six injuries that can happen to the eye: retinal detachment, cataracts, glaucoma, lacerations, abrasions, and oculomotor injuries. Some of these injuries are more severe than others. A corneal abrasion, for instance, can cause temporary blindness, but victims may regain their eyesight. For injuries such as this the time frame for improvement is thought to be three months. In more severe cases however the loss of eye sight is permanent.
A retinal detachment can result from a blow to the head or from an object entering the eye. Surgery will be necessary to reattach the retina, or permanent blindness can result. Burns to the eye are common from ultraviolet or other bright light that refracts into the eye. If the eye is burned, there is no modality to correct the damage. Oculomotor injuries as well as cataract and glaucoma can occur during a workplace accident. Interestingly, cataracts and glaucoma are usually thought of as a disease; however they also can be caused by a traumatic injury.
Pursuing Compensation for Blindness InjuryThere are significant costs associated with a serious injury that leads to blindness. Through a personal injury lawsuit filed with the help of an experienced blindness injury attorney in Westchester County, you can demand that the person who caused your injury pay you damages. The types of damages to which you may be entitled include:
- Doctor's visits
- Hospital fees
- Assistive technology
- Occupational therapy
- Counseling
- Service dog
- Magnifiers
- Glasses
- Lost wages and loss of earning potential
- Pain and suffering
If you were injured in an accident that caused you to lose all or part of your vision, you should contact an experienced blindness injury attorney serving Westchester County who understands the legal issues associated with personal injury cases. Even if you feel that your injury is covered by workers' compensation insurance contact us to ensure that you are receiving the maximum benefits available to you from all sources, including workers' compensation, a personal injury claim, and Social Security disability. Contact us at 800.696.9529 to schedule a free, no obligation consultation regarding your case. We represent clients in the following locations: Westchester County, Brooklyn, Long Island, Manhattan, Nassau County, Queens, Staten Island, Suffolk County, and the Bronx.