Accidents can sometimes cause minor injuries that will recover in time. Unfortunately, sometimes they can cause catastrophic damage to your body and your ability to function for the rest of your life. When you’ve suffered from a spinal cord injury, your entire life could change. You might be partially or permanently disabled and require medical assistance just to complete normal tasks.
If someone else was responsible for the accident that caused your back and neck injuries, then you deserve justice for their negligent actions. Our Minneapolis spinal cord injury lawyer at Madia can help you recover what you’re owed for the injuries and other damages you’ve suffered as a result of your accident. Madia is prepared to fight to defend your rights and hold the negligent party accountable for their actions.
Spinal Cord Injury Statistics
Devastating injuries to the spinal cord can happen in all kinds of ways. Each year, there are almost 18,000 new cases of spinal cord injuries (SCI) in America. There are about 300,000 people in the country living with a spinal cord injury, and the average age of injury is 43. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC), 78 percent of new SCI cases are males.
Let’s take a look at the different causes of spinal cord injuries so that you can be more aware of what to avoid or what you might have gone through to get the injury you have. The NSCISC lists these as the most common causes of SCI in America, in order:
- Car accidents
- Falls
- Violence, primarily gunshot wounds
- Sports or recreational activities
- Medical or surgical
- Other
On average, the length of stay for a patient with a spinal cord injury in a hospital is 11 days. The amount of time spent in rehabilitation is 31 days. However, that doesn’t mean that the injuries are healed after those stays—many patients still have physical therapy, need more treatment, and require at-home care and devices in order to carry out the rest of their lives.
In fact, less than one percent of patients had complete neurological recovery when they were discharged from the hospital. The most common form of injury right now is incomplete tetraplegia. Let’s take a look at what these terms mean to get a better understanding of injuries to the spinal cord and what they entail.
For a legal consultation with a spinal cord injury lawyer serving Minneapolis, call 612-349-2729
Types of Spinal Cord Injuries
There are a few different types of spinal cord injuries that you could sustain after an accident. It’s important to understand the terminology so that you can better understand your injuries and what to expect moving forward. The two over-arching categories that a spinal cord injury can fall under are complete and incomplete.
In a complete SCI, the patient has no function below the point of injury. In an incomplete SCI, the patient has some function below the point of injury, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they have full function below it. Incomplete injuries have become more common for patients with spinal cord injuries because of medical advancements.
To further understand incomplete tetraplegia and the other forms of neck and back injuries mentioned above, let’s take a look at the difference between paraplegia and tetraplegia. Paraplegia is when just the lower half of the body is affected by the SCI, whereas tetraplegia affects from the neck down. This means that incomplete tetraplegia is when the injury occurs in the neck, and all the patient’s limbs are affected, but they haven’t completely lost function in their limbs.
Typically, the loss of function and paralysis that spinal cord injury patients suffer from depends on the location of the injury. The higher the location of the injury, the more of the body is likely to be affected. The four sections of the spine determine this, which is the way that spinal cord injuries are divided as well:
- Cervical
- Thoracic
- Lumbar
- Sacral
The cervical section of the spine is in the neck. When these vertebrae are injured, the patient is likely to experience tetraplegia and loss of function below the neck.
When thoracic vertebrae are injured, it’s likely that the patient will completely or incompletely lose function from the chest down. This includes loss of function in the legs.
When the lumbar vertebrae are injured, which are housed in the lower back, or the sacral vertebrae, which are part of the pelvis, you’ll likely lose partial or full control of your hips and legs.
It can be hard to physically and emotionally cope after being paralyzed and losing function in any part of your body—whether complete or incomplete. That’s why a Minneapolis spinal cord injury attorney is here for you. We’ll help you recover what you’re owed so that you can focus on healing in all aspects of your life.
Let’s take a look at what your spinal cord lawyer at Madia can help you recover in terms of compensation.
Minneapolis Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Near Me 612-349-2729
Madia Can Help
After an injury to your spinal cord, you might be struggling to recover physically, emotionally, and financially while trying to figure out how you’re going to continue to provide for yourself and your family. That’s where our spinal cord injury lawyer, can help. Since you have bills piling up, the inability to work, and might not be able to return to work in the near or distant future, Madia can help you get the compensation you deserve when the injury wasn’t your fault.
When someone else caused your SCI, you can file a claim to recover the damages you’re owed. Here are some of the different damages that Madia can help calculate and win for you:
- Medical bills
- Treatment costs
- Medical equipment
- Future care costs
- Lost wages
- Lost earning capacity
- Future lost wages
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of consortium
- Loss of enjoyment of life
These are just the basics of what we might be able to help you recover in terms of compensation. You’ll want Madia as your Minneapolis spinal cord injury lawyers so that you know you’re getting damages for everything you went through and that you’re not settling for less than you deserve.
We understand that this is a vulnerable time for you and your family. That’s why we are here to support you. We know that you have other things to worry about right now other than your legal claim—we’ll handle the legal side of things so that you can focus on your family and your physical and emotional recovery.
Contact us today so our spinal cord injury lawyer can get started fighting for you.
Call 612-349-2729 or complete a Case Evaluation form
