CHILDREN'S INJURY

SEEK HELP FROM A CHILDREN'S INJURY LAWYER

Texas attorneys Keith Lapeze and Chris Johns formed Lapeze & Johns, PLLC, because they knew that their wealth of shared experiences working at the most prestigious law firms and with the most successful trial lawyers in the country would make them an extremely formidable team. When opposing lawyers see that they’re up against Keith and Chris, they know that they’re going up against unrelenting lawyers ready for a tough fight.

DIFFERENCES BETWEEN INJURIES TO CHILDREN AND ADULTS

There are several types of injury that tend to have different, often more severe, consequences for children than for adults. Being aware of those differences is crucial to making sure that the child gets adequate compensation from the person responsible for causing the injuries.

INJURIES TO THE BRAIN

Contrary to some conventional wisdom, children are not protected against long-term consequences of brain injury. It is, however, more difficult to identify the deficits caused by a brain injury in children. The problem is that children have much more learning to do. The injury may leave the information already stored in their brains intact, but damage their ability to add and process new information. That deficit in learning abilities may not become apparent for some time—maybe even years—after the injury, when the children begin to face the greater demands placed on them in the social and academic worlds. While some brain injured children appear both physically and mentally normal during the lawsuit to recover for their injuries, an experienced child injury trial lawyer knows that medical evidence has shown that brain injured children tend to have lower IQ scores, especially when the injury occurred at a very young age.

Children with brain damage also are more likely to be emotionally disturbed—up to six times as likely as similar children without brain injury.

GROWTH INJURIES TO BONE

Children’s bones are still growing. If the injury affects the growth process, a child victim may experience:

• One injured limb being shorter than the other
• The injured limb growing at an abnormal angle (an “angular deformity”)
• Abnormal motion in an affected joint

Any of these problems can seriously affect both appearance and mobility.

SCARRING

Scarring tends to be harder on children than adults, both psychologically and physically. Physically, the problem is that the scar tissue grows at a different rate than normal tissue. Scarring near a child’s joints can restrict mobility.

Psychologically, scarring can make children extremely insecure about their appearance and inhibit their ability to form friendships and engage in social activity. As they grow older, it may even affect their employment prospects. The problem tends to be greatest when the scarring occurs before the children have fully developed their social skills and self-image.

HELP FOR YOUR CHILD

The trauma and uncertainty of your child’s injury are more than enough to deal with. Get experienced help from child injury trial lawyers who understand the finer points involved in recovering what your injured child deserves. The personal injury trial lawyers at Lapeze & Johns have 35 years of experience in handling serious personal injury cases in Houston, the rest of Texas, the Gulf Coast region, and throughout the country. We provide smart, aggressive representation with a 95 percent success rate. The sooner you get help, the sooner you can go back to helping your child recover while you leave the legal tasks to our compassionate professionals.