Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuits

Regardless of whether or not you’ve had a spinal cord injury from an accident, car accident, or any other cause, the fact that you’ve had a spinal cord injury impacts not only your life but your families as well. Spinal cord injuries are often devastating to everyone involved. Along with the injury comes medical costs, and those costs can be quite significant.

If you or one of your family members has been in an accident and suffered a spinal cord injury as a result of the accident you have rights and could potentially file a lawsuit in order to receive compensation for all the losses and the injuries themselves. The following information explains both the legal issues that might arise in your case and also spinal cord injuries themselves.

What Are Spinal Cord Injuries?

Any damage that happens to the spinal cord is a spinal cord injury. The spinal cord is housed within the spinal column and is a bundle of nerves. The spinal column is also known as the backbone. The spine carries signals (messages) between the body and the brain. Anytime someone suffers a spinal cord injury it can leave the victim paralyzed below where the injury occurred. Usually it’s either quadriplegia (loss of movement in all four limbs) or paraplegia (loss of movement in the body’s lower parts).

Due to the fact that the spinal cord is responsible for a whole host of functions in the body accident victims can experience a whole host of sometimes permanent and sometimes very serious problem with their health.

The spinal cord is responsible for bodily functions including:

• Body Temperature
• Sexual Functioning
• Breathing
• Bladder

Victims of a spinal cord injury can incur some, all or other issues as a result of their injury.

Common Causes of Spinal Cord Injury

Injuries to the spinal cord will almost usually be caused by either a blow to the spine or a traumatic injury.

The most common causes of injuries to the spinal cord, according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center are:

• 7.6% – Recreational Sports Activities
• 15.1% – Acts of Violence
• 26.7% – Falls
• 42.1% – Motor Vehicle Accidents

Additionally, when having surgery on the neck or the back, which are risky surgical procedures, spinal cord injuries can be caused by errors during those procedures. In some instances, injuries to the spinal cord could have been completely unavoidable, other times the error could rise to the level of medical malpractice and could give the basis for a lawsuit.
As soon as you’re able, your best bet is to contact a lawyer at The Doan Law Firm to receive a free consultation on your case. Our lawyers work 24/7/365; it doesn’t matter if it’d 4am in the morning or Christmas Eve. We’re always here to answer your calls, you’ll never get a machine or a customer service rep in another country to gather information or tell you to call back during business hours.

The Legal Basis of a Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuit

Whenever there is an injury to the spinal cord that’s been caused by negligence you have the basis for a spinal cord personal injury lawsuit. The majority of lawsuits dealing with the spinal cord, and the majority of all personal injury lawsuits for that matter are based upon the theory called negligence. It’s a legal term and whenever there’s an injury that’s based on negligence you’ll need to prove that the other party is at fault (responsible) for the cause of your injury.

For example:

• Your Injury Is the Result of an Unkempt Staircase and You Slipped and Fell
• Your Injury Is the Result of another Vehicle Hitting Your Motorcycle

Defective products can also be the cause of a spinal cord injury. If you or a loved one has had a spinal cord injury due to a dangerous or defective product you may very well be entitled to compensation from the other party or their insurance company. For example, a dangerous or defective product could be faulty airbags or seatbelts that led to the injuries from a car accident far worse than they would have otherwise been. In an instance like that you could be entitled to compensation from the companies that sold, designed and manufactured the product.

Spinal Injury Cases – Common Defenses

There are two different types of negligence that may be brought up by the defense in a spinal cord personal injury lawsuit:

• Comparative Negligence – Both the Victim and the Defendants Carelessness Are Weighed
• Contributory Negligence – The Carelessness of the Victim Contributed To Their Injury Occurring

It’s common for defendants in spinal cord personal injury cases to make the claim that the injury was contributed to by you due to your own carelessness. Due to this personal negligence they’ll (the defendant) will make the claim that they’re not legally at fault for your injury. Alcohol, for example, is responsible for approximately 1 in every 4 (according to the Mayo Clinic) spinal cord injuries so the defendant may make the argument that the intoxication was the main contributory cause of the accident and thus the main cause of the spinal cord injury. This defense is based upon the legal theory of contributory negligence along with comparative negligence.

An addition defense that might be used is something called assumption of the risk. For example, if you incurred your spinal cord injury as a result of participating in an activity deemed dangerous, most likely the assumption of the risk defense will be brought up by the defendant.

These would include things like:

• Skiing
• Bungee Jumping

Spinal Cord Injury Compensation

Generally speaking, the purpose of receiving a monetary award in any spinal cord personal injury case is for the injured party to be compensated for losses caused by the injury/accident, at least to the point that a monetary award is able to do so. The monetary payment(s) are designed to be able to help restore an injured party to their condition pre-accident.

In personal injury cases involving the spinal cord, damages are most typically going to include monetary compensation that goes above and beyond the reimbursement for pain and suffering and incurred medical expenses. Due to the fact that spinal cord injury cases can often have life altering and permanent effects, an award of damages will also likely include additional compensation for other things, such as, ongoing rehabilitation and healthcare, assistive device costs and necessary modifications to the injured victim’s place of residence.

Getting Help with Your Spinal Cord Injury Case

Injuries to the spinal cord and the subsequent spinal cord persona injury lawsuit will involve extremely complex medical and legal issues than those in just a normal personal injury case. If you’re considering filing a lawsuit for your injuries, you’ll want to seek counsel from an experienced spinal cord personal injury lawyer at The Doan Law Firm, not just a regular personal injury lawyer. At The Doan Law Firm, we handle spinal cord injury cases. Call now at(800) 349-0000, we have lawyers on staff to your call 24/7/365.