The Bill Outlasts the Burn: Securing Long Term Compensation After a Third Degree Burn in Florida

A third degree burn does not stop when the wound closes. It destroys the full thickness of the skin and can reach the nerves beneath, which is why the damaged area is sometimes numb instead of painful. Federal hospital data from 2020 put burn admissions at roughly 29,000 a year, and many of those patients leave with years of treatment ahead. Our Fort Lauderdale burn injury lawyers at Boone & Davis know how far that road stretches.

Counting Costs That Have Not Happened Yet

Settlement math usually starts with the hospital bills already in hand. For a serious burn, those are often the smallest part of the story. Skin grafts can be followed by revision surgeries, scar therapy, pressure garments, and months of physical therapy so that healed skin does not tighten around a joint. Some survivors also need counseling to cope with the trauma.

Future medical costs can be part of a Florida claim, but section 768.0427(4) caps medical damages and limits future care to amounts necessary for reasonable and necessary treatment the claimant will receive, proven through the evidence the statute allows. The same statute controls how those costs are proven, which is why a rough guess will not survive an insurer’s challenge.

Work, Income, and the Face You Show the World

Economic damages under section 768.81(1)(b) include past lost income and future lost income reduced to present value, along with medical expenses. A burn to the hands can end a trade. A burn to the face or neck can change how employers react to a person long after the pain has eased. Noneconomic damages sit in a separate category and address pain, scarring, disfigurement, and the loss of ordinary life.

Building a claim that accounts for all of this takes more than medical records. A strong long term case usually documents:

• A burn specialist’s projection of future surgeries and rehabilitation
• A life care planner’s itemized cost of that care over the person’s expected lifetime
• A vocational expert’s opinion on lost earning capacity
• Photographs and records that capture scarring and physical limits over time
• An economist’s calculation that reduces future losses to present value

The Clock Does Not Wait for Recovery

Under section 95.11(5)(a), an action founded on negligence must be filed within two years. Burn treatment can stretch well past that point, and a person may not know the final shape of their recovery for a long time. Some claims, such as product defect cases, follow different deadlines, so the safest course is to confirm the timeline early. Waiting for the scars to settle can cost a claim its footing.

Start With a Conversation

You should not have to put a price on your own recovery while you are still healing. That is work we take on. If you or someone you love suffered a third degree burn because of another party’s carelessness, our team at Boone & Davis is ready to talk, and the first consultation costs nothing. Our Fort Lauderdale burn injury attorneys will review what happened and explain what a claim could look like. Call us at 954-566-9919 or reach out through our website.

Sources:

flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2026/768.0427

flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2026/768.81

flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2026/95.11