There were many news stories in San Diego this month about a young man from Zimbabwe who, as a child, had his face completely shattered by a bomb in his home country. The man suffered the freak accident in 2007, when a friend handed him a detonator they had found on the way home from school.
The man suffered serious burn injuries to his entire face, and ended up losing most of his mouth and jaw area. After living with this completely debilitating injury for the last six years, the man, now 20-years-old, will finally be getting the medical attention he needs at San Diego’s Sharp Memorial Hospital this month.
The man’s operation will hopefully restore his teeth and reconstruct his mouth so that he can chew, and hopefully smile as well. The operation will not be cheap though, as the surgeries will take place over a seven month period and will cost in the range of $1 million. Fortunately, a charitable organization and many volunteers and donors will help this man get a new lease on life — something that was impossible in his home country.
Burn and explosion injuries can be some of the most disfiguring and painful injuries a person can sustain. As this story proves, burn injuries can also be among the most expensive to treat. Thankfully, medical science can help people who suffer burn injuries, but the cost makes it prohibitive for many.
People who have suffered burn injuries because of a faulty product or another party’s negligence should not have to spend their lives with pain and disfiguring scars. An experienced personal injury attorney can help burn victims get compensation to cover the medical expenses they need to live a normal and pain-free life.
Source: Fox5 San Diego “Surgeons to repair explosion victim’s face,” by Christian De La Rosa, March 1, 2013
