Flight Attendant received first and second degree burns from a spill of freshly brewed coffee on her hand and sweater covered arm. Sweater appears to have retained liquid and heat which exacerbated the burns to the arm.

Narrative

During my beverage service a gentleman wanted a cup of coffee. I went to pour him a cup and only a 1/4 of a cup was left in the pot. I told him I would brew him a fresh pot and would be back shortly. I gave beverages to the remaining pax and then brought my beverage cart to the galley and brewed a new pot of coffee. As the coffee was brewing; I started to pull the empty cans of soda/juice out of my cart; and also put my service items away. As I was continuing to clean up my galley; I noticed the coffee was finished brewing. At that time the other FA asked me if there was anything she could do for me. As I was pouring the cup of coffee I asked her if she could hand the gentleman his cup of coffee. As I went to hand her the coffee we must have had a bad exchange and all of a sudden I felt an intense heat on my arm. The heat was getting worse; as I had on my sweater that morning. I then realized it was the sweater retaining the heat and pulled it off ASAP. (this all happened in approximately 10 -15 seconds). I told her I thought I would be ok and poured a new cup of coffee. We put some wet galley wipes on the burn. All of a sudden I started getting light headed and started to feel a little nauseated. I sat down in the jumpseat and I grabbed a can of soda to try to help soothe my stomach and started to sip on it. I asked the guys to have the medic's meet our flight as I knew something wasn't quite right with me. Upon landing I was treated by paramedics and was eventually taken to the E.R. for further treatment of my burns.That coffee must have really been hot; so maybe have all of the heating elements fixed on the aircraft for prevention of further injuries. Also; I believe that if I wasn't wearing my sweater that my burn wouldn't have been as large as it is because the coffee absorbed into the sweater and spread. It also trapped the heat in as well. Maybe someone should look into a uniform that is some-what flame or heat resistant; or material that repels liquids.