WORKERS' COMPENSATION - WOUNDS AND LACERATIONS

Wounds & Lacerations - According to Wikipedia

A wound is a type of injury in which skin is torn, cut, or punctured (an open wound), or where blunt force trauma causes a contusion (a closed wound). In pathology, it specifically refers to a sharp injury which damages the dermis of the skin.

Classification

According to level of contamination a wound can be classified as

§  clean wound , a wound made under sterile conditions where there are no organisms present in the wound and the wound is likely to heal without complications.

§  contaminated wound , where the wound is as a result of accidental injury where there are pathogenic organisms and foreign bodies in the wound.

§  infected wound , where the wound has pathogenic organisms present and multiplying showing clinical signs of infection, where it looks yellow, oozing pus, having pain and redness.

§  colonized wound , where the wound is a chronic one and there are a number of organisms present and very difficult to heal as in a bedsore.

Open

Open wounds can be classified according to the object that caused the wound. The types of open wound are:

§  Incisions or incised wounds, caused by a clean, sharp-edged object such as a knife, razor, or glass splinter.

§  Lacerations, irregular tear-like wounds caused by some blunt trauma. Lacerations and incisions may appear linear (regular) or stellate (irregular). The term laceration is commonly misused in reference to incisions.

§  Abrasions (grazes), superficial wounds in which the topmost layer of the skin (the epidermis) is scraped off. Abrasions are often caused by a sliding fall onto a rough surface.

§  Avulsions, injuries in which a body structure is forcibly detached from its normal point of insertion. A type of amputation where the extremity is pulled off rather than cut off.

§  Puncture wounds, caused by an object puncturing the skin, such as a splinter, nail or needle.

§  Penetration wounds, caused by an object such as a knife entering and coming out from the skin.

§  Gunshot wounds, caused by a bullet or similar projectile driving into or through the body. There may be two wounds, one at the site of entry and one at the site of exit, generally referred to as a "through-and-through."

Closed

Closed wounds have fewer categories, but are just as dangerous as open wounds. The types of closed wounds are:

§  Contusions, more commonly known as bruises, caused by a blunt force trauma that damages tissue under the skin.

§  Hematomas, also called a blood tumor, caused by damage to a blood vessel that in turn causes blood to collect under the skin.

§  Crush injury, caused by a great or extreme amount of force applied over a long period of time.

If you have been injured on the job, contact Simon Law Group and speak with a NJ Workers' Compensation Attorney at 800-709-1131 or complete the form on the left of this page.

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