What Makes a Personal Injury ‘Catastrophic’ Under the Laws of Ohio?
Section 2315.18 of the Ohio Revised Code (O.R.C.) defines a catastrophic injury as one that inflicts A permanent and substantial physical deformity, The loss of a limb or the loss of use of a limb, The loss of an internal organ or eye, and/or A permanent injury that permanently prevents the injured person from being able to independently care for themselves and perform life-sustaining activities without assistance. Here, “life-sustaining activities” covers a broad range of actions such as holding a full-time job, managing one’s own finances, or living by themselves in a house or apartment. An inability to perform life-sustaining activities could result from a traumatic brain injury, but it could also result from a combination of physical injuries that do not inflict an intellectual disability. Although the state statute does not explicitly use the term “catastrophic,” drawing a clear legal distinction between the listed injuries and other types of injuries a person might suffer in an a...