The current issue of Safety Report magazine carries an article by Charlie Morecraft, "A Burn Survivor's True Story."   It shows more insight about the experience of burn injuries more than anything I have read.  Some excerpts:

• "Burn victims will tell you that it doesn't matter how much morphine is injected. They say the pain is so excruciating, that they have difficulty even finding the words to describe it. Burn pain can be one of the most intense and prolonged types of pain and is difficult to control because of its unique characteristic and changing patterns."
• Regarding hydrotherapy, "one patient describes it as 'surreal amounts of pain, almost awe, as if they were taking ladies' stockings off my arms and legs, only, it was my own skin.' After awhile, everyone lying in the hospital rooms comes to fear this room. morphine is kept in a locked chest nearby, in dozens of cold vials, and medical staff refill the chest every week."

I've been there, can vouch for the accuracy of those descriptions, but by the grace of God am fine now.  That experience informs my advocacy for burn survivors at a depth beyond mere words.

If you ever have a serious burn injury in northern Georgia, tell the ambulance driver, "take me to Grady, " as the Grady Memorial Hospital Burn Center is the only appropriate place to go for burn treatment in a large area of Georgia.

Ken Shigley, author of Georgia Law of Torts: Trial Preparation & Practice, is  a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and has been listed as a "Super Lawyer" (Atlanta Magazine), among the "Legal Elite" (Georgia Trend Magazine), and in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He practices law at the Atlanta law firm of Chambers, Aholt & Rickard, and has broad experience in trucking accidents, automobile, products and premises liability, catastrophic personal injury, spinal cord injury, wrongful death, products liability,  brain injury and burn injury cases. He is also president-elect of the State Bar of Georgia. Ken and  This post is subject to our ethical disclaimer.

Originally posted at Atlanta Injury Law Blog . Please visit http://www.atlantainjurylawblog.com/ .

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 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..

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.

Ken Shigley, author of Georgia Law of Torts: Trial Preparation & Practice, is  a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy, and has been listed as a "Super Lawyer" (Atlanta Magazine), among the "Legal Elite" (Georgia Trend Magazine), and in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers. He practices law at the Atlanta law firm of Chambers, Aholt & Rickard, and has broad experience in catastrophic personal injury, spinal cord injury, wrongful death, products liability,  brain injury and burn injury cases. He is also president-elect of the State Bar of Georgia. Ken and Sally Shigley have been married 27 years and are proud parents of Anne Shigley and Ken Shigley, Jr.  This post is subject to our ethical disclaimer.

Originally posted at Atlanta Injury Law Blog . Please visit http://www.atlantainjurylawblog.com/ .

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.

Ken Shigley, an Atlanta attorney, is a national board member of the Interstate Trucking Litigation Group. His practice focuses on representing people who are catastrophically injured, and families of those killed, primarily in commercial trucking and bus accidents. Mr. Shigley also has extensive experience representing parties in  products liability, catastrophic personal injury, wrongful death, brain injury, spinal cord injury and burn injury cases. He is a Certified Civil Trial Advocate of the National Board of Trial Advocacy,  has been listed as a "Super Lawyer" (Atlanta Magazine), among the "Legal Elite" (Georgia Trend Magazine), and in the Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers (Martindale).  Currently he is treasurer, and unopposed as a candidate for president-elect, of the 41,000 member State Bar of Georgia.

 For criteria to be considered in selecting an attorney, see The Smart Consumer's Guide to Hiring a Great Lawyer.

Originally posted at Atlanta Injury Law Blog . Please visit http://www.atlantainjurylawblog.com/ .