The spinal cord plays a pivotal role in the human body. It connects the nerves and allows the brain to transmit messages throughout the body. The spinal cord controls movement and organ function. When a person suffers a catastrophic injury to their spine, their entire future can change instantly.
When you or a family member suffers a spine injury, you are probably overwhelmed with medical expenses, you might be unable to work, and your quality of life might have decreased significantly. Fortunately, a Clearwater spinal cord injury lawyer at Perenich Law Injury Attorneys could help you pursue comprehensive compensation for your losses.
Different Types of Spinal Injuries
The potential impact of a spine injury depends on its location and severity.
Location of the Trauma
Spinal injuries damage the nerve roots below the site of an injury. Consequently, spinal trauma to the lower back generally affects only the lower limbs. Injuries to the upper back and neck can affect a person’s entire body, including all limbs and organs and even the muscles that control a person’s ability to breathe.
Severity of the Trauma
Spine injuries can vary in severity.
With a complete injury, the spine is completely severed and can no longer carry nerve signals from the brain to the areas of the body below the severed spine. People with complete spinal injuries are paralyzed below the trauma site.
With an incomplete injury, the trauma severs some of the spinal nerves. An affected person might retain some feeling and motor ability below the affected area but might be partially paralyzed or have weakened limbs.
Problems can occur even when the nerves are not severed. Some people suffer from spinal compression, which occurs when something compresses the nerves without severing them, resulting in pain, numbness, mobility impairment, or weakness.
All spinal injuries can have a debilitating effect on an individual and their family. A dedicated Clearwater spinal cord injury attorney could help a person fight for compensation that could make a difference in their recovery.
How Spine Injuries Frequently Occur
Spinal injuries usually occur from sudden impacts to a person’s back, such as in the following manners:
- Sporting or recreational accidents
- Automobile accidents: can cause a body to jolt back and forth rapidly, sometimes resulting in fractured vertebrae, crushed discs, and compressed nerves.
- Slip and falls: people who fall can injure their backs from the impact of the ground and from hyperextending their spines
- Intentional violent acts, such as knife or gunshot wounds
Our seasoned spinal cord injury lawyers in Clearwater could investigate the circumstances behind a spinal injury to see how it happened. They have the skills to carefully examine police reports, medical records, and eyewitness testimony. They could see if another person or entity did something to cause or contribute to the spinal injury, and if so, hold them accountable for their negligent actions through a personal injury lawsuit.
Do I Qualify to Bring a Legal Claim for My Spinal Cord Injuries?
Although spinal injuries can be debilitating and tragic, not everyone who experiences one qualifies to bring a lawsuit. Legal suits are only appropriate when a spinal injury occurs because of the careless conduct of someone else. To win in court, an injured party must prove that another person’s negligent actions or inactions directly led to their injury.
Sporting or Recreational Accident
When someone experiences a spinal injury while playing an organized game, more than one party could be legally to blame. For instance, they might be able to sue the manufacturer of defective protective equipment. They might also be able to file a claim against the groundskeeper in charge of maintaining the playing field if poor field conditions caused the injured party to fall.
Automobile Accident
An injured party could pursue a claim against the people responsible for causing a motor vehicle collision, such as an at-fault driver or automotive parts manufacturer who produced a vehicle with defective parts.
Slip and Falls
When a dangerous condition on the floor or ground at someone else’s property causes someone to damage their spine, the property owner, caretaker, or manager could be at fault.
Intentional Violent Acts
When someone shoots or stabs another person, they could face civil liability in addition to criminal charges.
Our skilled legal team could perform a detailed investigation of an accident in Clearwater to identify the potentially liable parties and determine if a person has legal grounds to bring a civil claim for their spinal cord injury.
What Compensation Is Available for Spinal Cord Injuries?
Unfortunately, spinal trauma can be catastrophic. While some people are fortunate enough to fully recover with time, medical care, and therapy, some spinal injuries do not heal. Spinal trauma leaves many people with lingering pain, mobility impairments, and decreased quality of life. In addition to needing assistive devices, such as wheelchairs and home healthcare assistance, people with spinal injuries are often at increased risk of developing complications such as infections, blood clots, and pressure sores. They might need surgeries and other medical interventions periodically throughout their lives to address their medical needs. Some patients need to relocate to nursing homes or assisted living centers where they can get access to round-the-clock assistance.
Caring for a spinal cord injury is expensive. Depending on the type of work they performed prior to their injuries, some spine trauma survivors need to switch their lines of work. For instance, construction workers might not be able to stand or lift objects or perform many of the necessary parts of their job that require physical labor. They might have to find other kinds of work, often at a lower rate of pay. Other spinal injury survivors are unable to work at all, resulting in deep financial troubles.
Our compassionate Clearwater lawyers understand that life might never be the same after spinal trauma. However, we could fight to help an injured party get what they need to make their life as comfortable as possible. Working together with medical experts and life planners, our dedicated attorneys could better understand what an injured party’s medical, caregiver, and lifestyle needs might be for the future. By working with actuarial experts and examining the educational and working background of the injured party, our legal team could estimate the lost wages and future lost earning expenses that the injured party could have earned were it not for their injury. We also understand how emotionally draining and debilitating spinal trauma can be. We could ensure that a settlement or damages award considers a spinal cord survivor’s emotional losses.
Sadly, in addition to decreasing the quality of an afflicted person’s life, a spine injury can also shorten the length of someone’s life. In the sad event that a spinal cord injury causes an untimely death, a trusted attorney in Clearwater could help surviving family members file a wrongful death suit. As a family-centered law firm that truly cares about people, our team at Perenich Law Injury Attorneys could fight for accountability and justice and get their surviving loved ones the compensation they might need without their loved one’s support.
Meet With a Clearwater Spinal Cord Injury Attorney Today
If you suffered spinal trauma due to another person’s negligent actions, our diligent attorneys could help you recover payments to help ease the financial burden your injury has brought to your family. Our firm is proud to take on complex issues. We understand the law and have a track record of successfully helping people like you. We also understand that there is a lot riding on your case, and we want to help you pursue the justice you deserve for the pain you should have never experienced.
Meet with a Clearwater spinal cord injury lawyer at Perenich Law Injury Attorneys today. We are a team of 3 Brothers Helping Others. Contact us.
(727) 669-2828