Solar Law understands spinal cord injuries. The firm has extensive experience in the prosecution of claims involving injury to the spine and has demonstrated compentence bringing the most common causes of spinal cord injuries to trial.
Motor vehicle accidents. Auto, truck and motorcycle accidents account for more than 35 percent of new spinal cord injuries each year and are recognized as the leading causes of spinal cord injuries,
Falls. Falls account for more than 25 percent of spinal cord injuries, and spinal cord injuries, after the age of 65, are most often caused by falls,
Acts of violence. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center attributes 15 percent of spinal cord injuries to violent encounters, which often involve gunshot and knife wounds,
Sports and recreation injuries. Impact sports, such as football and diving into shallow water, cause about 9 percent of spinal cord injuries.
THE SPINAL CORD
“The spinal cord is like a busy freeway carrying feelings of touch up from your body to your brain and sending movement commands down from your brain to your body. When all the lanes are working, the traffic flows smoothly. If you damage your spinal cord or it stops working for some reason, it’s like losing lanes on this freeway.”
The spinal cord is made up of a bundle of nerves that descends through the spinal column in the middle of the back. The spinal column is a stacked series of small cylindrical bones that have a hole in their centers through which the spinal cord passes. A healthy spinal cord transports signals back and forth between the body and the brain. A spinal cord injury disrupts those signals. Spinal cord injuries usually begin with trauma. While most traumatic injuries don’t cut through the spinal cord, they may cause damage when pieces of broken or dislocated vertebrae tear into cord tissue or press down on the nerve parts that carry signals, like a kink in a garden hose obstructing the flow of water. Spinal cord injuries can be “complete” or “incomplete.” With a complete spinal cord injury, the cord can’t send signals below the level of the injury, resulting in paralysis below the injury. With an incomplete injury, you may have some movement and sensation below the injury.
Spinal cord injuries are medical emergencies. Immediate treatment can reduce long-term effects. Treatments may include medications, braces or traction to stabilize the injured spine, and subsequent surgery. Post-surgical care is usually comprised of medication and extensive rehabilitation therapy.
Scientists are optimistic that advances in research will someday make the repair of spinal cord injuries possible, but that is not yet reality.
While current treatments and rehabilitation allow some people with a spinal cord injury to lead productive and independent lives; they must have the substantial resources necessary to:
- Achieve maximum medical improvement;
- Obtain the intensive multidisciplinary therapy that will permit them to function independently or with assistance;
- Purchase home adaptations and modifications that permit independent or assisted living;
- Purchase adaptations of a car or van to travel to and from work, shopping and medical appointments; and
- Purchase necessary workplace adjustments and adaptations that allow them the dignity of work.
Too often the resources necessary to optimize a spinal cord injury patient’s recovery are unavailable due to the absence of health insurance; contested liability, or deficient healthcare facilities.
The Law Office of J. Michael Solar PLLC takes a holistic approach to assisting its spinal cord injury clients, not only with a prompt investigation, evaluation and prosecution of their claim for negligence, but also by aiding in the efforts to maximize their medical care, rehabilitation and other support needs.