Within minutes of making contact with a food allergen, the victim can go into anaphylactic shock, causing much less oxygen to reach the brain or vital organs. A severe allergic reaction that doesn’t get treated right away can easily end in tragedy, such as a potentially catastrophic hypoxic brain injury or death. It’s also common for people suffering from an allergy reaction to suddenly lose consciousness and get seriously hurt due to falling.
After these terrifying incidents, individuals with severe reactions may contend with expensive medical bills and major disruptions to everyday life. Under Wisconsin law, compensation for economic and non-economic damages can make victims and their families whole.
The experienced attorneys at Nicolet Law Accident & Injury Lawyers represent allergy injury victims in lawsuits and insurance claims pursuing that compensation. We handle every aspect of the process of seeking money damages. Although every case we handle differs, our team can frequently secure payment for our clients’:
Medical Expenses
Due to the urgency of these situations, the expenses for getting treated for a severe food allergy reaction are often high and may include emergency services like ambulance transportation. In cases of severe injuries with long-term consequences, like kidney failure or brain damage, the costs can be astronomical and may last over the victim’s lifetime.
Lost Income
Food allergy injuries can also lead to a substantial amount of lost income, either because the victim couldn’t work for a period of time or because a family breadwinner needed to stay home to be a caregiver. Some food allergy reactions can be severe enough to cause permanent disabilities, leading to a reduced earning capacity for which the victim can also seek compensation.
Non-Economic Damages
Depending on the severity of the victim’s food allergy-related injuries, the physical pain, emotional distress, and life disruption caused by the ordeal can be as bad as —or worse—than the financial loss.
In Wisconsin, the law recognizes these intangible, non-economic costs as a direct result of the liable party’s preventable and harmful actions. These types of damages can’t be measured directly, but a skilled food injury lawyer can collect evidence to document these very real losses and prove them to a judge or jury if need be.