The Athens Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer

Tenacious Representation for Accident Victims

Whether they arise from a car crash, a boating accident, a slip and fall, or another harmful incident, spinal cord damage is one of the most devastating injuries that a victim can sustain. Unlike other injuries that heal over time or that can be addressed through reparative procedures and therapies, these are often permanent and forever alter the victim’s life. 

For those with families or active lifestyles, the results can be catastrophic. The Athens spinal cord injury attorney Joshua W. Branch fights for the rights of Georgia accident victims. If you have been harmed because someone else acted carelessly, you should not hesitate to vigorously pursue the compensation that you need.

Dial (706) 760-9220or complete an online form now to speak with the Athens spinal cord injury attorney.

Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries can be caused by a variety of accidents, though most injuries of this type are the result of some form of negligence. An attorney can help you understand your legal options and pursue full compensation for your damages.

Spinal cord injuries are commonly caused by:

• Car accidents
• DUI Accidents
• Boating accidents
• Bus accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Truck and tractor trailer accidents
• Slip and fall accidents

Warning Signs of a Spinal Cord Injury

The most serious of spinal cord injuries often cause immediate, dramatic physical changes and symptoms like paralysis. In some serious cases, though, the effects of a spinal cord injury are not immediately apparent. Some people have a serious spinal cord injury but don’t realize it for days, weeks, or even months, suffering from serious pain and discomfort the whole time.

If you were in an accident and are experiencing any of the following symptoms, you may have a spinal cord injury:

• Radiating back from your neck into your arms (if an injury to your neck/cervical spine). This pain is often described as an electrical-type sensation
• Radiating back from your lower back into your legs (if an injury to your neck/cervical spine).This pain is often described as an electrical-type sensation

Unexplained pain or pressure in the head, neck, or back

• Loss of sensation in your hands, feet, fingers, or toes. Often accompanied by numbness and tingling
• Difficulty with grip strength
• Difficulty walking or balancing
• Pain when walking, standing, sitting, or lying down
• Limited or lost control of any body part
• Incontinence, retention, or any other issue with your urinary tract or bowels

To detect a spinal cord injury and seek the right treatments to potentially limit its symptoms, you should always see a medical provider as soon as possible after being in an accident. Even if you feel fine, you could have an underlying spinal cord injury that will start to worsen and could become much more serious than it already is. Please prioritize your health and get medical care as soon as you notice any symptoms of a spinal cord injury.

Types of Spinal Injuries

When it comes to classifying different types of spinal cord injuries, they are usually divided into two categories: complete and incomplete.

What is a Complete Spinal Cord Injury?

A complete spinal cord injury results in the complete loss of all movement and sensory abilities in areas below the level of the injury. The American Spinal Injury Association's Impairment Scale designates these types of injuries as "ASIA A" injuries.

What is an Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury?

An incomplete injury generally refers to someone who still maintains some degree of sensory feeling or movement in the areas below the injury.

This can be designated in one of three ways on the ASIA scale:

• ASIA B - Certain sensory functions remain but there is complete motor function loss
• ASIA C - Some motor functions remain but less than half of the muscle groups are able to move against the force of gravity with a full range of motion
• ASIA D - Similar to the ASIA C designation, but more than half of the muscle groups maintain the prescribed range of motion

Whether your injury was complete or incomplete, it will have a significant impact on your life. Whether your injury prevents you from returning to work, or from carrying out the same everyday tasks you were formerly able to accomplish, you should not have to bear the weight of your injury on your own.

Radiculopathy: What Is It & Why Should I Care?

Radiculopathy is a condition that occurs when one has a bulging/herniated disc that causes a nerve in the spine to become pinched, compressed, or irritated or for pressure from a ruptured disc to be placed upon the spinal canal. Cervical radiculopathy occurs in the neck, thoracic radiculopathy occurs in the upper middle back, and lumbar radiculopathy occurs in the lower back.

It is not uncommon for radiculopathy to be caused by an accident, such as a car crash. The impact of such an accident causes damage to the nucleus pulposus which causes it to rupture and results in pressure upon the nerve roots or upon the spinal canal.

Symptoms of radiculopathy can include but are not limited to the following:

• Pain
• Tingling sensation
• Numbness
• Weakness in your extremities
• Loss of sensation

If you are experiencing radiculopathy after an accident, it is imperative for you to see a spine specialist.  Time is of the essence.  Sometimes these situations require emergency medical treatment.  If pressure on your spinal canal from a ruptured disc occurs for an elongated period of time, then your chances increase for permanent damage to occur.  

If you have suffered from these symptoms from a car crash or other type of incident where injury was caused by another then you should explore your legal options to see how an injury claim can help set things right.

Radiculopathy may be curable, but it generally requires a decompression procedure on the spine.  This makes sense because the radiculopathy was caused by a herniated disc putting pressure on either a nerve or the spinal canal.

Assert Your Right to Compensation for a Spinal Cord Injury

The spine consists of 33 different bones stacked on top of one another, muscle tissues connecting the bones and keeping them aligned, and ligaments. Not only does the spine provide the central support column for your upper body, but also it facilitates bending, twisting, and leaning. Deep inside the bones, the spinal cord connects your brain with the rest of your body.

Since the spine is such a complex and intricate system, it is susceptible to a wide variety of injuries. Paralysis and quadriplegia are two of the most common disorders, permanently preventing the victim from walking or using his or her limbs.

Why is Compensation Important?

Imagine you are healthy and strong, working at a job you love and living in a pleasant residential community in the first home that you own. You engage in a variety of hobbies like tennis and jogging while also participating in the school and sports events of your two children. When you are driving home from work one day, you are rear-ended by a truck driver who sped through a red light. 

Although you survive the accident, you need to undergo five operations over the next year. Also, you discover that you will need to change careers because you cannot physically return to your job. Somehow, you still need to pay for your children’s education and complete the mortgage payments on your house, while looking for a new field of work. What can you do to protect your loved ones?

The Four Elements of Duty

In many situations, an accident victim can bring a negligence claim against the party that caused his or her injuries. This usually requires proving the four elements of duty, breach, causation, and damages. Most people are expected to take the same precautions that a reasonable person would take in a certain situation to avoid posing foreseeable risks of harm to others. 

This is known as the duty of care, and any conduct that falls short of this standard is known as a breach. The victim must have been harmed as a direct result of the breach in order to establish his or her right to compensation. Since spinal cord injuries can be so devastating, these cases often result in a substantial award of damages, which may be both economic and non-economic. 

Some common examples include medical and hospital bills, the costs of future treatment, lost income and earning capacity, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment. Also, Georgia law allows a victim’s spouse to bring a loss of consortium claim, which seeks to compensate the spouse for the loss of his or her loved one’s society, companionship, and support.