Spinal Cord Injuries
LAKE CHARLES SPINAL CORD INJURY ATTORNEYS
Injury Law Firm Helping You Secure Your Future
Your spinal cord is responsible for sending messages from your brain to the rest of your body. When this important bundle of nerves is interrupted, the consequences can be devastating. Because spinal cord injuries impact the signals that make your body function, you could suffer paralysis and loss of feeling below the site of injury. The severity of your spinal cord injury will depend on where the injury takes place and how heavily your spinal cord is impacted. If someone else causes your injury, you may be entitled to compensation.
While nothing can change what happened to you, having access to the right resources can make all the difference as you adjust to life with a spinal cord injury. Hinch & Associates PLC can help you pursue the compensation you deserve.
What Causes Spinal Cord Injuries?
Spinal cord injuries begin with a sudden traumatic, blow to the spine that fractures or displaces vertebrae.
The most common causes of spinal cord injuries are below:
- Automobile accidents (in cars, trucks, and motorcycles)
- Falls
- Violence and intentional torts
- Sports injuries
- Surgical complications
- Workplace accidents
- Certain diseases
- And more
Auto accidents are the leading cause of spinal cord injuries for younger people, while falls are the leading cause for individuals over 65. Many of the situations above only occur if someone else behaves negligently.
How Are Spinal Cord Injuries Classified?
There are many different ways to categorize and talk about spinal cord injuries. First, spinal cord injuries are either complete or incomplete.
A complete spinal cord injury means there is no function (sensation or voluntary movement) below the site of the injury and an incomplete spinal cord injury indicates some function below the primary level of injury (i.e. a person can move one limb more than another, feel parts of the body they cannot move, or function on one side of the body).
Another way to classify spinal cord injuries is with the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) grading scale. The “grades” of spinal cord injuries are as follows:
- ASIA A – a complete spinal cord injury
- ASIA B – a motor complete spinal cord injury where some feeling is preserved
- ASIA C – a motor incomplete injury where less than half the muscle groups can be moved voluntarily
- ASIA D – a motor incomplete injury where more than half the muscle groups can be moved voluntarily
- ASIA E – a ‘spinal concussion,’ or another fully recovered spinal cord injury
The last tool we use for discussing spinal cord injuries is determining the level of injury and how that affects the body. Cervical injuries (neck injuries) happen above the C-7 vertebrae and typically lead to quadriplegia, or paralysis from the neck down. Thoracic spinal cord injuries happen between the T-1 and T-12 vertebrae (the area we think of as our back) and affect the muscles in the abdomen and lower back, often causing paraplegia, or paralysis from the waist down. Lumbar spinal cord injuries affect the L-1 through L-5 vertebra and typically cause some loss of function in the hips and legs. Sacral spinal cord injuries happen between the S-1 and S-4 vertebrae and affect the hips, legs, and pelvic organs, but do usually not impact the ability to walk.
Any of the injuries above can be painful and have an enormous impact on your life. Spinal cord injuries can not only lead to paralysis, but they can also affect your nervous system and your internal organs. Many people with spinal cord injuries have trouble with breathing, bladder control, and other essential activities.
Life With a Spinal Cord Injury
In the United States, as many as 450,000 people currently live with a spinal cord injury, and an estimated 17,000 new spinal cord injuries occur every year. Fortunately, improved emergency care, aggressive treatment, and rehabilitation can minimize the effects of your injury and even restore limited abilities.
Many people with spinal cord injuries go on to live meaningful lives, despite their newfound limitations. The right care and assistive devices can make this much easier, but they do not come cheap.
That’s why we encourage victims of spinal cord injuries to pursue compensation with our firm.
A successful lawsuit can help you recover compensation for:
- Medical bills
- Assistive care and devices
- Missed work
- Changes to your quality of life
- And more
- Rehabilitative care
- Therapy and support
- Lost earning potential
- Pain and suffering
We invite you to join our satisfied clients and pursue maximum compensation with our firm.
Call Hinch & Associates PLC Today
The legal process can be difficult, but our legal team understands you have already been through enough. As such, we handle your case with personalized guidance and compassion, building a strong argument so you don’t have to. We put our experience, resource, and skills into helping you achieve a favorable outcome in your case – and we work on contingency fees, which means we don’t get paid unless you do.