There is a cut-and-dry methodology for determining if a vehicle accident can qualify as a catastrophe. The official legislation keeps terms purposely specific and that can be a bit frustrating, because it leaves anything even slightly less off the radar as a catastrophic injury. There are a few clear terms, as listed below.
Brain damage.
• A limb must be amputated fully or partially.
• Loss of the ability to use a limb, including paralysis. The limb does not have to be removed.
• Complete or partial blindness, but it must be in both eyes.
Perhaps the vaguest definition of an injury relayed by the catastrophic accident attorneys in Glendale, AZ is the one pertaining to brain damage. The Glasgow Coma report is an official report that holds a lot of merit in the court of law, and it moves through a variety of stimulus involved with the responsiveness of the brain. It reports eye-opening on a scale from 4 to 1 (one being cannot open the eyes at all). The report also looks at the verbal responsiveness which grades from 5 to 1, and generally the lower numbers are worse, meaning that a 1 would qualify as complete lack of verbal responsiveness.
Lastly, the report looks at the overall motor responses; it has a wider grading scale and moves from 6 to 1. It is a very accurate test, and the courts take the numbers very seriously in determining catastrophe status.
Notably, the status does not necessarily mean an individual is in a coma at all; they could have mild characteristics of being comatose, yet still rank on the Glasgow coma charts. Overall, individuals need a score of 9 or less to qualify as brain damage. It is a score the catastrophic accident attorneys in Glendale AZ look for to determine if there is a claim for catastrophic injury.
There must be a way to draw a line in the sand about a catastrophe. The numbers are adjusted with children, and there are some obvious limitations, but overall, the attorneys look at this scale, alongside other standards, to determine the definition of a catastrophe. Click here for more on what it takes to establish a catastrophe case.
