Dallas-Fort Worth is served by one of the highest-volume burn centers in the nation and a deep bench of reconstructive plastic surgery programs. If someone else caused your burn, a legal claim can pay for every stage of that reconstruction — but Texas gives you only two years to act.
Dallas-Fort Worth's burn care system is anchored by the Parkland Health Burn Center, one of the largest and busiest verified burn centers in the United States and the teaching affiliate of UT Southwestern Medical Center. Parkland's burn program treats a significant share of the region's most severe burns, and its acute care flows directly into a long-term reconstructive pathway managed by burn surgeons and plastic and reconstructive specialists. The Spencer Memorial Burn Center at Parkland Health extends that capacity for the metro's growing population.
The reconstructive depth in North Texas is reinforced by UT Southwestern's academic plastic surgery faculty, who provide complex scar revision, facial reconstruction, and microsurgical tissue transfer for burn survivors referred out of acute care. Pediatric burns across the region are supported by children's hospital programs experienced in the staged operations young survivors need as they grow. Between the Parkland system and the UT Southwestern faculty, a DFW survivor can access every modern reconstructive technique — scar revision, contracture release, tissue expansion, flap reconstruction, and laser therapy — close to home.
Reconstruction begins after the acute wounds close, and it is almost always staged over years. A typical Dallas burn survivor's reconstructive plan may include:
Severe burns often require five to fifteen or more procedures. Children need additional operations as they grow, because scar tissue does not stretch with the body.
Reconstruction at a major Dallas academic program is expensive — individual staged procedures with facility and anesthesia fees routinely run tens of thousands of dollars, and laser series add more. Texas law allows burn victims to recover the full cost of future medical care from the party that caused the injury, but only if those future procedures are documented in a life care plan before settlement.
Texas's statute of limitations for personal injury is 2 years from the date of injury — and because reconstruction routinely outlasts that window, your claim will almost certainly need to be filed while surgery is still ongoing. Claims involving governmental units under the Texas Tort Claims Act carry additional, much shorter notice requirements. See our Texas burn injury guide and the statute of limitations overview.
Yes. Damages in a Texas personal injury case are measured by the reasonable cost of the care you need, not by what your health insurance happens to cover. If your surgeons recommend staged reconstruction at an academic program, your life care plan can project those costs at the rates actually charged in the Dallas market.
Often, yes. Texas does not require every employer to carry workers' compensation, and non-subscriber employers can be sued directly for negligence. Even when comp applies, DFW's construction, manufacturing, and energy industries frequently involve liable third parties — contractors, property owners, and equipment makers — and those third-party claims can recover full reconstruction costs plus non-economic damages that comp never pays.
Serious burn cases involving visible scarring and staged reconstruction are among the highest-value personal injury claims in Texas, frequently resolving in the seven figures when liability is clear. Value depends on burn depth and location, the number of projected procedures, lost earnings, and permanent disfigurement. A free case review can give you a realistic range.
Get a free case review from a Texas burn injury attorney.
Texas's 2-year deadline will almost certainly expire before your reconstruction is finished. Filing now preserves your right to have every future procedure paid for by the party that caused your burn.
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