Spinal Cord Injury

A potential result of a catastrophic event such as a car or truck accident, is an injury to the spinal cord. Since the spinal cord is part of your central nervous system, a spinal cord injury can lead to devastating limitations and permanent disabilities such as full or partial paralysis. The spinal cord might be affected whenever someone has a neck or back injury. This is why, after a car accident, the EMTs will stabilize your neck and beck until they are certain you do not have a serious injury.

Your Spinal Cord

Your spinal cord connects your body to your brain. As a result, if a portion of the cord is damaged so that your brain cannot communicate with other parts of the body, then you might experience a loss of strength, sensation or other functions of your body below the injury.

Types of Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries are either complete or incomplete. In a complete injury, you lose most or all functioning below the site of the injury. In an incomplete spinal cord injury, you still have some function below the injury site.

Depending on your injury, you might suffer from paraplegia, which is paralysis of part (or all) of the body’s trunk, legs and pelvic organs. You can also suffer from quadriplegia (tetraplegia) which means both your upper and lower limbs are affected, as well as your trunk and pelvic organs.

Aside from paralysis, some results of an injury to the spinal cord include:

• Loss of feeling or sensation
• Partial or complete paralysis
• Difficulty maintaining body temperature
• Inability to control breathing
• Bone degeneration

Financial Issues

If you have suffered a serious spinal cord injury, you will have expensive medical care for the rest of your life. Even a temporary injury can have substantial costs. Often you will require long-term (or life-long) medical care, physical therapy, and assistive technology such as a special van or other tools to help you in your day-to-day life. You may not be able to work, or if you can, you may require occupational therapy as well. As a result, you will find it expensive to live within a reasonable standard of life. Given the cost, if you have suffered your spinal cord injury due to the negligence of another person, then you should not have to pay these additional expenses on your own. Rather, the individual who caused you harm should be responsible.

Contact Us

A spinal cord injury can have devastating effects on you and your family. If you suffered a spinal cord injury in an accident resulting from another person’s  negligence, contact the Pennsylvania spinal cord injury  attorneys of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 888-979-7298. Tell us what happened and we will give you our honest opinion about your case.