Spinal cord injury compensation claims and payouts
Damage to your spinal cord can occur in a number of ways, but it’s usually caused by extreme trauma. In these cases it’s important to understand how spinal cord injury compensation is determined.
You can also experience injury to your spinal cord from certain cancers, blood loss or stenosis.
What is a spinal cord injury?
A spinal cord injury is damage to your spinal cord that results in loss of function, whether it’s mobility and/or feeling. Car accidents, gunshot wounds and slip and falls are frequent causes of spinal cord injury.
In some cases, the spinal cord may sever, but it doesn’t have to for loss of function to occur. In most cases, the spinal cord stays intact but the damage to it still results in a loss of function.
It’s possible to break your back or neck and not sustain a spinal cord injury. In these cases, the bones around the spinal cord (vertebrae) have been damaged, but the spinal cord was unaffected, and therefore it’s possible to sustain serious back injury without suffering a spinal cord injury.
Are there different types of spinal cord injury?
There are four different types of spinal cord injury: sacral, lumbar, thoracic, and cervical.
Bones called vertebra surround your spinal cord. Usually, the higher up the injury is on your spinal column, you’ll experience a greater loss of function. The vertebra in your back are named according to their location, with seven vertebrae in your neck being called the cervical vertebra. The top vertebra is called C-1, then C-2, and they continue down in ascending order.
Injuries to your cervical spinal cord usually result in loss of function in both your arms and legs, resulting in quadriplegia.
The twelve vertebrae in your chest are called thoracic vertebra, called T-1, T-2, etc. T-1 begins in your chest where your top rib attaches. Injuries in this region usually affect your legs and chest, resulting in paraplegia.
The lumbar vertebrae extend from your thoracic vertebra down to your pelvis (hip bone). These injuries usually result in some loss of function in your legs and hips.
The sacral vertebrae extend from your pelvis to the end of your spinal column. These injuries usually result in some loss of function in your legs and hips.
What is the average settlement for a spinal cord injury?
While each individual case will receive different compensation, your financial losses as a result of your injury will be compensated. In severe cases, a spinal cord injury may result in disability and/or disfunction of your bladder, bowel, or sexual systems. In many cases, these injuries will restrict your movement and sensation, and result in pain.
Whether you can continue to perform your work duties to the same level, or at all, these factors will be taken into consideration when determining your compensation. Adapting your home to accommodate your new condition and abilities, any ongoing rehabilitation or at-home care that’s needed, ongoing medical treatment and medications will also affect your compensation.
Your lawyer will work closely with medical experts and economists to calculate the ongoing limitations and care you’ll require, and account for inflation, when determining a fair compensation for your injuries.
Receiving compensation for spinal cord or back injuries: What you can expect
The factors that come into play when determining your compensation are: the severity of your injuries, the cost of medical expenses, how much work you’ve missed/will continue to miss, how permanent your injury is, and the emotional impact of your injury.
Recovering compensation for our clients is what we do. We’ve been supporting personal injury victims since 2009. From car accidents to bicycle accidents, slip and fall accidents to spinal cord injury accidents, our lawyers have the knowledge and resources to help you get your life back on track.
Check out some of the successful settlements we’ve gotten for previous clients here.
For more information about spinal cord injury compensation or to schedule a free consultation to discuss your injuries, case and claim, contact Miryam Gorelashvili at 613-730-8460.
