A spinal cord injury can alter your life forever, significantly impacting your ability to earn a living. You and your family shouldn’t have to take on the burden alone, especially if your injuries weren’t your fault. If your injuries were the result of another’s negligence, you may be entitled to financial compensation.
Severe spinal cord injuries can have a number of debilitating effects—including paraplegia, quadriplegia, and other paralysis or nerve damage. Any of these injuries can turn your life upside down and require a lifetime of treatment and care. Hiring a personal injury lawyer can help ensure your injury claim is successful and can help make sure your injury-related expenses and losses are taken care of so you can focus on your family and your health.
Common Symptoms and Complications Related to Spinal Cord Injuries
- Pain and intense stinging in the spinal cord
- Loss of movement
- Loss of sensation or feeling
- Loss of bowel or bladder control
- Uncontrolled reflexes or spasms
- Changes in sexual function or sensitivity
- Difficulty breathing
Did You Know?
Approximately 18,000 new cases of spinal cord injuries are reported each year, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center.
- The average age at injury is 43.
- 79% of all spinal cord injury victims are male.
- Lifetime costs for spinal cord injury patients range from $1,433,145 to $6,077,646 (in 2023 dollars).
- The first year of treatment is the most expensive, ranging from $447,037 to more than $1 million.
Understanding Spinal Cord Injury Claims
Understanding how spinal cord injury claims work is crucial for victims and their families as they navigate the complexities of pursuing compensation. Successful claims hinge on proving the following:
Negligence
Simply put, negligence means someone failed to act with reasonable care and this failure resulted in harm to another person. Some examples of negligence that could lead to a spinal cord injury include:
- Distracted driving
- Unsafe property conditions (such as slip-and-fall hazards)
- Workplace accidents
- Medical malpractice
Liability in a Spinal Cord Injury Claim
In legal terms, liability means being held legally responsible for the harm caused. To establish liability in a spinal cord injury claim, you must prove the following:
- The at-fault party owed you a duty of care (for example, drivers have a duty of care to operate their vehicles safely so as to not injure other road users).
- The at-fault party breached that duty of care.
- The breach directly caused your spinal cord injury.
- You suffered damages (financial losses, pain and suffering, etc.) as a result.
For instance, if a spinal cord injury was sustained in a car accident where the other driver was speeding or distracted, proving negligence involves demonstrating that the driver’s failure to follow traffic laws directly led to the accident and your injury.
In addition to proving negligence and liability, you also need to demonstrate the extent of your damages related to the spinal cord injury. This typically involves medical records, documentation of lost wages, and possibly expert testimony about future care needs or lost future earning capacity.
Financial Implications of Spinal Cord Injuries
The financial impact of sustaining a spinal cord injury is monumental, often stretching into millions of dollars over a lifetime. Understanding the breadth of expenses is vital for spinal cord injury victims as they consider the compensation necessary to cover their needs. This includes:
- Immediate and Ongoing Medical Treatment and Home Care Expenses: Compensation should be pursued for expenses from emergency care and surgeries to ongoing treatments and therapies. In addition, long-term rehabilitation and personal care assistance are often necessary, requiring significant financial resources.
- Lost Wages and Loss of Earning Capacity: Many victims are unable to return to their previous, or any, employment, requiring compensation for lost wages and their diminished ability to earn in the future.
- Modifications to Living Spaces and Other Adjustments: Spinal cord injury victims’ homes often need modifications for accessibility, such as ramps, widened doorways, and adapted bathrooms to accommodate wheelchairs or other mobility devices. Compensation should also cover the other costs associated with adapting to a new lifestyle, including transportation, specialized equipment and technology, and services to aid independence.
The goal of compensation in spinal cord injury cases is not just to address the immediate financial burdens but to ensure the victim can maintain a quality of life as close as possible to what it was before the injury. It’s about securing the resources needed for both recovery and adaptation to a new way of living.
Five Common Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries
Understanding the common causes of spinal cord injuries is essential for both prevention and recognizing the potential for legal recourse. We outline five common causes below.
- Automobile Accidents: This is one of the leading causes of spinal cord injuries. High-impact collisions can violently jerk or compress the spine. The force can also fracture vertebrae or dislocate the spine, damaging it.
- Motorcycle Accidents: Riders are particularly vulnerable in crashes due to the lack of protective barriers between them and the road or other vehicles. Motorcycle accidents often result in the rider being thrown from the bike, leading to potential high-impact injuries to the spinal cord.
- Truck Accidents: The massive size and weight of commercial trucks can cause devastating injuries in collisions with smaller vehicles. The sheer force of a truck accident can crush or severely damage the spinal column, leading to significant spinal cord injuries.
- Boating Accidents: High-speed impacts with water or fixed objects, like docks, during boating accidents can exert enough force to cause serious spinal injuries. Additionally, individuals thrown from boats may suffer spinal damage upon hitting the water at high velocities or colliding with other objects.
- Work-Related Accidents: Falls, machinery accidents, or being struck by heavy objects are common in certain workplaces, such as construction sites. These incidents can result in forces that harm the spinal cord or cause vertebrae to fracture or dislocate.
Recognizing these common causes is the first step toward taking preventative measures and understanding the context for potential legal action if you or a loved one is affected.
If you or someone you love have sustained a spinal cord injury, contact Parrish DeVaughn Injury Lawyers today. Our attorneys are experienced in handling spinal cord injury claims and we will fight to get the money you deserve for your injuries.
