A recent study published in the internationally acclaimed medical journal, The Lancet, reveals that almost 80% of U.S. deaths for Americans who are 30 years old and younger are caused by accidents.
Accidents, which means these are deaths that could have been prevented and were not — and all but 20% of our young people who perish are dying because of them.
The research was undertaken by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) out of Atlanta. From the study, we know that each year in the United States:
- The numbers equate to a person dying from injuries sustained in an accident every 3 MINUTES.
- Around 180,000 people under the age of 30 die from things like car accidents, slip and falls, and drug overdoses.
- In 2010, among people of all ages, 121 000 died due to unintentional injuries, including automobile crashes, poisoning, and suffocation.
- Accident injuries are the leading cause of death for people ages 1–44 in the U.S.
- 2,800,000 are hospitalized with injury each year
- 31,700,000 get medical treatment in an U.S. Emergency Room for injuries sustained in accidents each year
- Violence and injuries cost more than $406 billion in medical care and lost productivity each year in the United States
Personal Injury Law Exists to Combat Accident Injuries and Wrongful Death
There are many that argue against tort reform in this country, and who see lawyers who choose to practice personal injury law as greedy, self-serving “ambulance chasers.” However, the truth remains that personal injury attorneys and the reality of lawsuits being filed by injury victims seeking justice on the grounds of negligence, product liability, defective products, malpractice, and the like fill a critical need in the United States.
Look no further than the recent revelations about General Motors Corporation.
We now know that GM allowed cars with known, dangerous product defects to be sold in the United States and that people died and were critically and seriously injured in crashes and accidents caused by those same defects. Why did this happen? Because this was one more company that put profits over people.
How will these victims get justice? Through the legal system, where personal injury claims are filed and pursued on their behalf based upon personal injury laws.
This new CDC research published in the Lancet is disturbing, even shocking. However, one must wonder how much higher these numbers would be without the active efforts of personal injury lawyers across this country, demanding justice for accident victims and seeking to prevent accident injuries and wrongful deaths in the future.
