Arlington Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer
Accidents that result in traumatic impacts against the neck or back can often have much more severe and long-lasting effects than accidents leading to injuries elsewhere in the body. This is because the spinal cord cannot mend itself after sustaining serious damage, which means the debilitating effects of spinal cord trauma are very often permanent.
If you sustained harm of this nature because of another person’s reckless or careless conduct, an Arlington spinal cord injury lawyer’s assistance could wind up being crucial to preserving your future options and interests. While financial recovery cannot restore you to your pre-accident condition completely, a qualified catastrophic injury attorney could provide the assistance you may need to ensure you do not bear the financial brunt of someone else’s poor decisions.
What Determines a Spinal Cord Injury’s Severity?
While the brain is responsible for processing nervous signals and sending instructions out to the rest of the body, the spinal cord is the primary conduit for transmitting those signals and instructions to and from the brain. This means that damage to the spinal cord interrupts the body’s ability to sense external stimuli and instruct limbs and digits to move, leading to extensive losses of sensory and motor function.
Two main factors impact how severe a spinal cord injury is: how “complete” the damage is, and where the damage occurred on the spinal cord. Incomplete spinal cord injuries only involve the spinal cord being torqued, bruised, or torn slightly, so victims may maintain some functionality below the injury site and may even have prospects of long-term recovery. Complete injuries, on the other hand, involve the spinal cord being completely severed and always result in total and permanent loss of function.
Finally, injuries lower down the spinal cord may result in paraplegia, or paralysis of just the lower limbs and possibly the pelvis, while higher injuries may cause quadriplegia in all four limbs. A seasoned Arlington spinal cord accident attorney could help pursue fair financial recovery for all the impacts of any type of spinal injury.
Proving Someone Else at Fault for Spinal Cord Damage
As with any other form of personal injury litigation, spinal cord injury claims require the injured party to show through a preponderance of all evidence that the defendant(s) in their claim were “negligent,” meaning that they caused them harm by violating a duty of care. Various forms of negligence can lead to life-altering spine trauma, from traffic violations that lead to car wrecks to substandard care by a medical practitioner, to even slips or trips and falls caused by unsafe property conditions.
Regardless, the permanent and debilitating harm that spinal cord trauma generally causes can allow for settlement or court award values far exceeding that less severe injuries might justify. Recoverable damages that a spinal cord injury lawyer in Arlington could possibly factor into a claim include:
- Medical expenses, including costs of assistive medical equipment and rehabilitative care
- Costs of home/vehicle modifications
- Lost working capacity
- Lost personal opportunities
- Lost consortium with a spouse
- Lost enjoyment of life
Consider Working with an Arlington Spinal Cord Injury Attorney
Any type of injury can have devastating repercussions for the injured party and their family, but few match the all-encompassing severity of significant spinal cord damage. Fortunately, it may be possible to hold the person responsible for you suffering such an injury accountable for the losses they have forced you to take on.
A knowledgeable Arlington spinal cord injury lawyer could work relentlessly to protect your rights and interests from start to finish of the litigation process. Schedule your initial consultation today.
