Get Help with Your Spinal Injury Case, Right Now!
Spinal injuries are serious, life-changing injuries that can occur after many different types of accidents. These injuries can put a strain on your life, physically, mentally, and financially. If your accident was caused by someone else’s negligence, you may be eligible to receive compensation for your spine, back, or neck injuries. An experienced lawyer, like the ones here at Sand Law in St. Paul, can work for you to recover compensation for your spinal injury. We can form your case, negotiate with the insurance companies, and get you the financial compensation and justice you deserve for your spinal injuries.
Causes of Spinal Injuries
There are many different causes of spinal injuries. Depending on the accident and the severity of the accident, some spinal injuries may be more severe than others. While there are such things at moderate cases of spinal injury, all of these injuries should be treated by a doctor as soon as they occur to prevent further injury. It also important to seek medical attention right away so that they can document your injuries for your future personal injury claim.
The Shepherd Center states that 291,000 people in the United States are estimated to be living with a spinal cord injury. Additionally, there are also approximately 17,700 new spinal cord injuries each year, most often caused by motor vehicle accidents and slip and falls.
Spinal Injuries from Motor Vehicle Accidents
Motor vehicle accidents account for a large quantity of spinal cord injuries each year. This is likely because of the way these accidents occur. Whiplash is a minor spinal cord injury that occurs when the head and neck move back and forth too rapidly. This is often caused by car accidents, but in total there are over three million new cases of whiplash each year.
Car accidents often result in spinal injuries as the sudden blow to the spine or even the surrounding tissues can cause a vertebrae to break, herniate, or otherwise be damaged. It can also cause the sensitive tissue around the spine to become crushed or dislocated. Spinal injuries occur in car accidents especially if the passenger is struck on their side of the car, from behind, or at high speeds.
[What To Do After a Car Accident Checklist]
Spinal Injuries from Slip and Falls
Slips and falls can cause all sorts of different injuries, from traumatic brain injuries to broken bones, bruises, and internal bleeding. However, spinal cord injuries are one of the most common injuries from slip and fall accidents. Slips and falls can occur because of a wet surface, in a store, bad weather conditions, poor sidewalk/parking lot construction, falls off of buildings or higher levels (especially in construction), and poor lighting.
Spinal injuries from a slip and fall are common because of the nature of the incident. As a person falls, they often land in an awkward way that causes a large amount of strain on the back muscles, spinal cord, and vertebrae. Lots of people view slip and falls as less serious or even funny, but the truth is they can result in serious injuries to the back and spine.
Spinal Injuries from Defective Product
Product liability can be the cause of a spinal cord injury–although not as frequently as car accidents and slips and falls. Product liability and recalls can cause a huge variety of accident and incidents that lead to injuries. Some of these injuries are minor, and some are serious like a potential spinal cord injury could be.
Defective products that lead to injuries could include defective tires, defective construction equipment, unsafe flooring, defective brakes, and other defective auto parts. Defective products may occur because of negligence or because of a company puts profits over safety, but the manufacturer of the defective product can almost alway be held liable. If the company doesn’t ensure the safety of their products before releasing them to the public, this would definitely qualify as negligence on their behalf.
Spinal Injuries from Medical Malpractice
Medical malpractice can take many forms, and can cause many different issues and injuries. According to SpinalCord.com, 4.6% of spinal cord injuries occur because of medical malpractice. Medical malpractice can include surgical error, misdiagnosis, improper treatment or care, prescribing the wrong medication or dosage, or even early discharge from the hospital.
When it comes to spinal injuries, these mostly occur because of surgical errors, misdiagnosis, and early discharge from the hospital. During surgery, if a condition is not fixed properly or if there is a mistake made to the spinal cord area, serious complications can result. A misdiagnosis can cause a person to delay or never get the treatment they need, which almost surely will make a spinal injury worse. If a patient is discharged too early, their condition may worsen, especially if they don’t know what their condition is upon leaving.
Who is Liable for Your Spinal Injury?
There are many different parties that could be liable for your spinal injury, depending on how your specific injury occurred.
If your injury occurred because of a car accident, the opposing driver may be liable if they were driving with negligence. This means they may have been texting while driving, driving under the influence, or even speeding or driving recklessly.
Liability for car accidents is often straightforward, but with things like slips and falls and product liability, it’s sometimes a little more difficult to decide which party is liable.
In a slip and fall case, liability can fall on a property owner who didn’t clean up a spill right away or clear the ice from in front of their shop.
On a construction site, a spinal injury could be the result of improper training, defective products, or even overworking an employee, which means a few different third-parties could potentially be liable for the injury.
Liability is assigned to whoever committed negligence leading to your case. One or more parties can be liable for your accident, and your attorney will investigate your case to determine exactly who was liable for your accident.
What Damages Can Be Recovered for Spinal Injury?
After your injury you may feel like you’re sitting on a mountain of debt from different sources, and we know just how stressful that can be. Thankfully, with a good attorney, you’ll able to potentially recover the damages from your spinal cord injury.
You can recover economic damages, like medical bills (including hospital visits, surgery costs, and physical and mental therapy).
You can also recover damages for any wages you may have lost when you were out of work, and potential lost wages from the future because of lost career earning potential.
You can also recover non-economic damages for things like pain and suffering, loss of companionship, and loss of enjoyment of life. These things are hard to put an exact number on and a little more difficult to collect, but your attorney will help you determine how this will affect your case specifically.
How can a St Paul Spinal Injury Attorney Help?
If you have a spinal injury because of a car accident, slip and fall, medical malpractice, defective product, or other type of incident caused by negligence, please contact the experienced attorneys here at Sand Law.
Our years of experience will help to ensure that you receive the justice that you deserve for your case, as well as the proper compensation. We will negotiate with the insurance companies on your behalf and make the process as easy for you as possible.
For more information, or a FREE case evaluation, please contact us online or at 651-291-SAND (651-291-7263). We look forward to helping you and your family be made whole again.