Atlanta Injury Law Blog

As a a trial attorney based in Atlanta, some of the more interesting cases on which I have worked have involved defectively designed or manufactured vehicles.

This week the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration launched an investigation of the safety of gas tanks on three million Jeep Cherokees. The investigation covers Grand Cherokees in model years 1993 to 2004.

The advocacy group Center for Auto Safety in October asked NHTSA to review whether the gas tank's position below the rear bumper and behind the rear axle could cause fuel to spill if the SUV were struck from behind. The group also said that the neck of the fuel tank could tear off in crashes.

The Center for Auto Safety says that the Grand Cherokee fuel tank storage system was defective and posed a hazard in a crash in that the plastic fuel tank  was behind the rear axle, extended below the rear bumper, and had inadequate shielding, leaving it vulnerable to rupturing or leaking in a crash. Chrysler put the fuel tank in front of the rear axle and shielded it in the 2005 model year.

The risk of explosion, fire and catastrophic injuries with that design cannot be ignored.

Fortunately for people harmed by explosion of one of these gas tanks, Chrysler Group LLC agreed to assume legal responsibility for injuries drivers suffer from defects in vehicles produced before it emerged from bankruptcy protection..

In case you or a loved one are ever in a serious accident, or have a serious burn injury, anywhere in northern Georgia, memorize these four words: 

"Take me to Grady!"

While Grady has a public reputation as an overburdened, financially troubled inner city hospital dealing with a huge population of indigent patients, it is also the teaching hospital for Emory and Morehouse medical schools and the premier center for trauma and burn treatment in north Georgia.

Last night I attended the open house for the newly expanded and renovated clinic facilities at Grady Burn Center. Previously, they had the expert staff and state of the art equipment, but physical facilities were dated and somewhat less than you normally see at newer, better funded hospitals.  Now, with help from the Georgia Firefighters Burn Foundation, the Grady Burn Center has a facility worthy of the excellent staff and program for treatment of burn patients. 

For me as a former patient, the tour was a poignant experience. I have no clear memory of my brief time in ICU, so that did not even look familiar. But a fire chief who was with me commented that when we entered the all too familiar hydro room, and I walked over to touch the hydro table, he could tell detect some emotion. (No words are adequate to express, and no amount of morphine is adequate to mask, the pain of debridement and hydrotherapy after a burn injury.) While I have recovered well with the help of the medical heroes at Grady Burn Center, my experience with a burn injury adds depth and empathy to my representation of burn injury survivors and the families of those who did not survive.

No one who has not experienced a severe burn can begin to fathom the severity of the pain involved. If kidney stones and childbirth rank a 10 on the 10 point pain scale, hydrotherapy and debridement after massive second degree burns rank in the hundreds or thousands on the same scale.

There are no words to describe that pain. Only screams from the depth of the soul can express it.

In the Atlanta region, the Grady Burn Center is the place to go for expert treatment of burns.

For burn victims and their families, the road to recovery is likely to be both long and difficult.  Here are a few online resources that may be of use:

• Burn Resource Center
• Johns Hopkins Burn Center - good patient info. 
• Practical Guidelines for nutritional management of burn injury & recovery
• Burn Rehabilitation article

A high protein diet is essential in recovering from a burn injury.  An easy way to boost protein intake is to supplement meals with high protein meal bars and whey protein powder mixed into smoothies or other food can help.

Compression garments must be worn for many months to minimize scarring. Some patients come up with more comfortable options in summer that the hot, scratchy custom made compression garments. For example, biker shorts, Coolmax running tights and Under Armour Heat compression shirts may may provide the compression needed for burns on arms, legs and torso, in a manner that is more bearable in hot weather.

For some people, it is also psychologically more positive to use protein supplements and compression garments that are designed and marketed for athletic rather than medical purposes.

Many burn survivors have very significant changes in body image and self concept, leading to understandable depression.  Burn centers have burn survivor support groups that can be invaluable to the recovery process.

Of course, I am not a doctor -- just another guy who has been there and knows from experience what it is like -- and cannot give medical advice. All burn victims should seek medical advice and guidance from the physicians at the burn clinic where they are treated.