South Carolina Child Injury Attorneys

Any person who suffers a truly catastrophic injury – like a traumatic brain injury, paralysis, burn injury, or loss of limb, to name a few – will need extensive medical care that could last a lifetime, and be faced with almost insurmountable expenses. Serious injuries to children, however, are different than serious injuries to adults for many reasons.

Physical development can be affected

According to Yale Medicine, physical injuries to certain bones can affect a child’s growth plates, “areas of cartilage found at either end of the long bones (bones that are longer than they are wide, like arm and leg bones) in children and adolescents.” If the damage is severe, or if treatment is delayed, it can stunt a child’s growth.

Physical injuries are not the only cause of short stature. Malnutrition, certain chronic diseases like cancer, and other genetic concerns can also affect a child’s physical growth.

Cognitive development may be delayed or arrested

A traumatic brain injury, caused by external or internal injury, can lead to cognitive delays or arrested cognitive abilities. Physical trauma, undiagnosed/untreated infections, undiagnosed/untreated chronic diseases, oxygen deprivation before, during, or after labor, and acts of medical malpractice and negligence can all lead to brain damage which can affect a child’s cognitive abilities. Brain damage can also affect motor skills, social skills, and memory, and could affect a child’s ability to learn, make friends, hold a job, or participate in everyday life in a community. In some cases, the child may require a lifetime of care.

Trauma can cause internal damage

Children’s bodies are not fully developed, which puts them at risk of severe injury. For example, pediatric airways are much shorter and smaller than adult airways, and children’s tongues are typically larger (as a percentage of their size) than adults. As a result, children may be more prone to choking and suffocation than adults.

Children’s ribs and sternums are not as strong as those of adults, and their abdominal walls are thinner. Therefore, if they experience chest trauma, it could be more life-threatening for them than it would be for an adult. For example, say a grown man is riding his bike and a defective tire blows out, causing him to strike his chest on the handlebars. This is a painful injury, and it could result in a bruised or even cracked rib, but it is likely that the adult will survive. A child, per The Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, does not have the same protection, and a hard strike to the chest from a bike’s handlebars could lead to a punctured lung or other internal damage.

This risk from chest trauma is one reason why children under a certain age, height, and weight are required by law to use car seats and boosters; the trauma of a tightening seatbelt on a child too small to use the belt alone can be devastating.

Mental trauma can affect everything

Many adults have difficulty coping with stress and trauma; for children, it can be even worse. Despite the adage that children “bounce back,” severe psychological trauma associated with physical injury, sexual abuse and assault, neglect, and other forms of negligence can lead to life-long consequences. Children who are old enough to understand that what is happening is wrong, but not old enough to understand why it is happening, can internalize that stress and develop coping mechanisms that make them a danger to themselves or others. They may also have difficulty:

• Forming relationships
• Experiencing emotional responses
• Responding appropriately to social situations
• Finding and maintaining employment
• Regulating their behavior
• Maintaining a healthy lifestyle

The National Child Traumatic Stress Network reports that childhood trauma has been linked to “high-risk behaviors (e.g., smoking, unprotected sex), chronic illness such as heart disease and cancer, and early death.”