Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers

Whether you’re a weekend enthusiast or professional athlete, a fun game can turn into tragedy when a spinal cord injury results from playing a sport. Even in no- or low-contact competitions, such accidents can be caused by the reckless or intentional actions of others. Suddenly, it’s not a game anymore when you’re looking at medical bills, pain and suffering, and possible loss of income.

Sports injuries are unique in the sense that you participate willingly and accept the possibility that you may be hurt. And while there are inherent risks associated with playing any sport, you may be able to obtain compensation for damages when a spinal cord injury occurs due to the reckless or intentional conduct of another participant. The key to recovering losses lies in the proof, and only a knowledgeable and experienced spinal cord injury attorney can help you win your case.

Workplace accidents involving spinal injuries are quite common. They can result from slips, falls, overexertion, repetitive motion, defective or poorly maintained equipment, and unsafe conditions — especially in environments that involve heavy lifting and machinery.

In severe cases, these injuries can lead to devastating consequences for the victim that include severe pain, medical care, surgery, and reduction of household income due to lost wages.

Employers have a duty to keep the workplace safe and carry proper workers’ compensation insurance. The failure to abide by legal requirements may allow you to recover for losses when you suffer a spinal cord injury on the job, but there are complicated rules that determine how you can proceed.

Spinal cord injuries can happen in slip and fall cases due to factors like ice, snow, liquid substances, debris, uneven surfaces, slopes, and other unsafe conditions can make walking a hazard. When a business owner or manater doesn’t properly maintain the premises, causing a dangerous condition that leads to an accident, they may be subject to legal liability.

When a slip and fall leads to spinal cord injuries, the impact can be severe for the victim and his or her family. Considerable bills for treatment, surgery, and long-term care add up and lead to serious financial consequences.

There are laws that allow you to recover damages if you’ve suffered spinal cord injuries from a falling accident, but different theories of negligence apply. Like all cases founded in negligence, you must prove certain elements to prevail in a lawsuit for slip and fall:

• There is a duty of reasonable care to maintain a safe environment;
• The property owner failed in this duty on account of negligence;
• The negligence caused an accident; and,
• You sustained a spinal cord injury as a result.

There is another factor to consider in a personal injury case if your own actions were partly to blame. People are expected to watch out for their own interests and act reasonably under the circumstances. If you were acting irresponsibly at the time of the accident and your behavior had a hand in the injury, the theory of comparative negligence applies — and you may have to assume a certain percentage of fault in the case.

For these reasons, negligence in a slip and fall case is a bit more complicated compared to other types of personal injury matters, so you need a skilled lawyer to prove your right to compensation.

Incidents involving motorized vehicles are among the most common causes of spinal cord injuries. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, commercial vehicles, boats, trains, and scooters generally travel at a high rate of speed, generating a significant blow upon impact.

When an automobile or motorcycle accident causes spinal cord injuries to a driver or passenger, the emotional and financial tolls are serious: A victim typically needs immediate treatment, surgery, and long-term care. Since he or she may also be out of work during rehabilitation, the financial impact can be devastating.

It is possible to recover for losses if you’ve suffered a spinal cord injury in a vehicle accident, but there are special rules and statutes of limitations that apply by state. You should always consider time to be of the essence in a personal injury case. A skilled attorney can represent your interests in settlement negotiations with an insurance company — and take the fight to court if necessary to pursue your right to compensation.

A medical professional owes a high duty of care to patients, but misdiagnosis of conditions and improperly performed procedures do occur. A doctor who breaches this duty may cause severe spinal cord injuries to a patient, leading to a claim for medical malpractice.

When healthcare practitioners make errors or exercise poor judgment resulting in a spinal cord injury, the implications are extreme. Victims endure severe pain and suffering, may be unable to work, and cannot go about their normal routine. Families of spinal cord injury victims are also impacted both financially and emotionally.

Cases related to spinal cord injury from medical malpractice are complicated, and the key to success lies in proving negligence. Specifically, you must establish that your doctor had a duty to provide a certain level of care, he or she negligently failed to do so, and you suffered a spinal cord injury as a result. In a medical malpractice case, the standard of care required of a physician is what would reasonably be required of any other doctor under the circumstances. If another physician faced with the same situation would have acted differently, there may be questions involved with the duty of care.

Negligence may be involved in a spinal cord injury where circumstances indicate:

• Failure to properly diagnose a medical condition
• Failure to detect a spinal tumor that results in medical issues
• An error made during surgery
• Delaying a surgical procedure that should have been performed
• Errors in administering proper anesthetic during surgery
• Any other failures or mistakes that a physician should not make with exercise of due care

Falls from a height can be serious, and spinal cord injuries are common even when a person drops just a few feet to the surface below. Victims typically have an uphill battle to return to health. He or she will experience significant pain and suffering, and may be unable to work. Lost wages and medical bills have a financial impact on the victim and family, and the emotional strain can be overwhelming.

There are a number of conditions that may be present in a building or property that can cause someone to fall from a height, including:

• Crumbling or poorly maintained stairways
• Debris or hazardous obstructions
• Unsafe or malfunctioning elevators
• Negligent maintenance that allows snow, ice, or liquid to accumulate
• Malfunctioning equipment for the disabled or other faulty equipment
• Improperly placed ladders
• Shaky scaffolding

Building owners may be legally liable for negligence if the conditions on the premises are a factor in these types of accidents, and even employers can be responsible under certain circumstances. It is possible to recover compensation in a matter involving a spinal cord injury, and your chances for success are improved when you retain an attorney that has extensive experience with these cases.

While negligence is usually to blame for a spinal cord injury, an intentional, willful assault by a stranger or known attacker can also cause this type of harm. In fact, acts of violence are the third leading cause of spinal cord injuries in the U.S. — behind vehicular accidents and falls — according to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center.

Assault with a blunt object, gun shots, being pushed down, or receiving a deep penetrating wound can all lead to severe spinal cord injuries. No matter what the specific cause, a victim who suffers a spinal cord injury due to assault is in a different category that a person whose injury is the result of negligence: The victim can actually pursue criminal charges against the offender, and they can also sue to recover damages, including medical costs, pain and suffering, and lost wages.

There are two main elements to establish liability for assault that results in spinal cord injury:

• The offender intentionally performed some action that caused a victim to anticipate harm; and
• The offender actually did cause a reasonable apprehension of immediate harm on the part of the victim.

Note that the offender does not need to make physical contact with you to be liable for assault; the mere apprehension of harm is sufficient to make a claim.

Suffering a spinal cord injury in an assault can be devastating, resulting in severe pain, emotional turmoil, lost wages, and other serious consequences. Our experienced attorneys can assist you in obtaining compensation for these losses by pursuing all legal remedies available under the law in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, or elsewhere in the nation.

An injury of sudden onset and extreme severity that requires emergency medical attention is a traumatic injury. Spinal cord injuries may also fall into other categories, but are defined as traumatic when they’re caused by any variety of blunt strike or penetration of the spine with a sharp object.

There are number of different ways a person can suffer a spinal cord injury, which results in loss of sensation or function of the extremities. However, there are unique factors involved when the injury is due to trauma. Blunt trauma is defined as a spinal cord injury that results when a person strikes or is struck by an object in the back; penetrating trauma is usually the result of a sharp object that actually gores the spinal cord, such as a bullet or knife.

A traumatic spinal cord injury should not be confused with a disease or disorder that impacts the spine; rather, trauma is more intense and immediate in nature. When you experience blunt or penetrating trauma that results in a spinal cord injury, the symptoms may range from intense, shooting pain up the spine to a mere numbness. However, the specific symptoms will depend upon which section of the spine is impacted by the trauma.

If the cervical spinal cord — the area that includes the neck — is damaged, the result could be paralysis of the limbs. When certain cervical vertebrae connected to the respiratory system are injured, the victim may suffer an inability to breathe.

Further down the spine to the lumbar region, near the small of the back, the spinal cord is connected to leg muscles and functioning. Injuries to this area could result in paralysis of the lower body.

If the vertebrae of the lower region, or sacral spine, are damaged, bowel, bladder, and sexual functions may be impacted.

The immediate pain of spinal cord injuries that occur due to trauma is intense, and the long-term pain and suffering may range from mild to acute. Financially, there are substantial medical bills for treating these types of injuries, at a time you may not be able to work and earn income.

It is possible to obtain compensation for losses due to a traumatic spinal cord injury, but these types of lawsuits involve complex areas of law and medicine. To ensure the best possible outcome, retain an attorney with specific experience in spinal cord injury cases.

Even when you take precautions of wearing a helmet and installing proper safety gear, bicycle accidents can still happen. When you suffer spinal cord injuries as a result, the impact is life-changing. You’ll need immediate treatment and possibly surgery to recover in the short term. In more severe cases, you might require ongoing rehabilitative care to return to health. Unfortunately, some victims never fully recover from spinal cord injuries.

You’ve likely suffered a number of losses, and under the laws in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and elsewhere across the nation, you may be able to obtain financial compensation for such damages as medical bills, pain and suffering, and lost wages. However, the legal theory of comparative damages may limit your recovery. An experienced attorney will fight to get the highest economic and non-economic damages under the law.