Delray Beach Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer
Generally, personal injuries are named for the cause of the harm, not for the type of harms that are the result of the injury. Auto accident, slip and fall, or defective products are just a few of the types of personal injuries that you have probably heard discussed. However, there are some types of injuries that comes with their own specific subset of problems, making it imperative that the lawyer representing you in those claims not only understands the broader type of injury that applies, but also the specific type of injury you suffered. Spinal cord injuries fit into that category.
A spinal cord injury is not a specific type of personal injury, but instead, a harm that you can experience as the result of another type of personal injury. Car, truck, and motorcycle accidents frequently give rise to spinal cord injuries, but so can slip and fall accidents, construction injuries, and even workplace injuries. In fact, almost any type of personal injury can lead to a spinal cord injury.
What many people do not realize is that an incident can appear relatively minor and still result in significant spinal cord injuries. Moreover, a spinal cord injury may not be apparent immediately after an accident, even if you seek immediate medical attention. This can make spinal cord injuries very difficult to prove. Furthermore, even if you can prove the spinal cord injury, because they may not be apparent immediately after an accident, it can be difficult to establish a personal injury as the cause of the spinal cord injury. These factors are known for complicating the process for getting compensation for your injuries.
At Demand the Limits, we have a dedicated team of South Florida attorneys ready to help you get the compensation you need for your spinal cord injuries. You need an attorney who has the knowledge to build a successful spinal cord injury case and help you recover the compensation you need to make you as whole as possible.
Our Delray Beach Spinal cord injury lawyers offer comprehensive free consultations. During those consultations, we not only review your case to determine if your spinal injury was caused by a personal injury and discuss the party at fault for your injury, but also begin a process for determining how extensive your injuries are and what type of compensation you will need to put you in the same position as if the injury had never happened.
Our Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach county personal injury specialists understand that spinal cord injuries actually encompass a number of different types of injuries. The type and the severity of the injury combined together can predict the lifelong impact of the injury. To better understand these issues, it is important to start with an understanding of the spinal cord. The spinal cord is a collection of billions of nerves, nervous tissue, and support cells encased in your spine. Your spine is composed of multiple bones known as vertebrae, which are separated by shock-absorbing discs. The spinal cord is responsible for the voluntarily and involuntary movements throughout most of the body. Depending on the nature and degree of a spinal cord injury, your ability to engage in important functions can be damaged or destroyed.
Even minor spinal cord injuries can have a significant impact on quality of life and the ability to live a normal life. They may impact speech, walking, the ability to feel sensation, the ability to reproduce, and other functions considered a normal part of life. More severe spinal cord injuries may result in partial or complete paralysis.
Spinal cord injuries tend to fall into two broad categories: acute injuries and overuse injuries. Generally, overuse injuries are less severe and are unlikely to be the result of a personal injury, though a personal injury that occurs with a victim that has a preexisting spinal injury could exacerbate that injury.
The term acute refers to an injury that occurs suddenly. Some causes for acute spinal cord injuries include: motor vehicle accidents, slip and falls, horseback riding accidents or other sports accidents. The term acute refers to how the injury occurred, not its severity. Acute injuries can range from milder sprains and strains to fractures and dislocations or even ruptured discs.
Overuse injuries occur when someone overuses a body part. In the personal injury context, spinal injuries due to overuse generally occur as workplace injuries, because some workplace activities can overuse the spinal cord. Overuse injuries tend to come on gradually and increase with time. They may be marked by pain, stiffness, limited mobility, or muscle spasms. While these injuries may not be the result of a sudden activity, they can have a lifelong impact.
If you think you have sustained a spinal cord injury, the most important thing to do is to seek immediate medical attention. The longer the delay between the injury and seeking attention, the more difficult it might be to treat the injury.
If you believe that the spinal cord injury is due to overuse because of working conditions, then you may need to take steps to document those conditions. If the injury was due to an accident or negligence, then you want to take whatever steps you can to preserve evidence. This may include photographs at the scene of the accident, getting witness names and contact information, and saving any and all documentation that can link your spinal cord injury with the accident. Then, you need to contact an attorney to determine how to best preserve your rights.
What can the Delray Beach area attorneys at Demand the Limits do to ensure that you are receiving the best representation for your spinal cord injury? We will determine who is liable for your injury, help you calculate lifelong costs of the injury, and seek the compensation you deserve to make you as whole as possible.
You may wonder why we keep using the word “whole” when we are talking about financial compensation. The whole point of monetary damages is to try to put the injured party in the same position they would have been in if the injury had not occurred; this concept is referred to as “making them whole.” Obviously, money, on its own, is not going to remove an injury. However, you will need money for medical treatments. If you missed work, you will need compensation for lost wages. If your ability to work in the future has been compromised, you will need compensation to make up for that changed working ability. If your physical condition is such that you will need medical devices or specialized things in your home or vehicles, then your compensation should pay for those, as well. Finally, there are some less tangible aspects of making a person whole. A spinal cord injury can result in pain and suffering; courts will try to determine the monetary value of that pain and suffering.
A spinal cord injury can be life-changing, and the last thing you need to worry about is how you are going to pay for those changes. Demand the Limits can help you. To find out more about how we can help you recover compensation for your slip and fall injury, contact Demand the Limits today for a free consultation.