Spinal Cord Injuries in Louisiana: How Experienced Attorneys Accurately Value Claims?
Few injuries are as severe and potentially devastating as spinal cord injuries.
Spinal cord injuries can affect an individual’s ability to walk, move, control their bladder, or even breathe easily. The physical effects are just the beginning. Spinal cord damage can make patients incompetent to work, play their favorite sport, or hold children, leading to mental and emotional despair.
80% of those suffering from spinal damage are healthy males between 15 and 30.
Spinal cord injuries have numerous causes, including long-term stress or degeneration of the spine. However, negligence is also a leading cause of spinal cord injuries.
What Is A Spinal Cord Injury?
The spinal cord is the bundle of nerves that carry instructions to and from the brain to the rest of the body. The vertebrae are interlocking bones that form the spinal column. The vertebrae surround and protect the spinal cord.
An injury to the spinal cord often produces a temporary or permanent change that affects typical motor, sensory, or autonomic functions.
Because the spinal cord performs the critical function of carrying messages between the brain and the rest of the body, a spinal cord injury can significantly impact a person’s ability to function.
Types Of Spinal Cord Injuries
The medical fraternity broadly divides spinal cord injuries into complete (permanent) or incomplete (partial) damages. From a legal perspective, both types can leave the victim facing an immense lifestyle and other challenges. A Complete spinal cord injury refers to the spinal injury when the victim loses all ability to feel and voluntarily move below the level of the damage. An incomplete spinal cord injury is when the victim has some function and movement below the level of the injury.
The American Spinal Injury Association scale is the standard medical professionals use to assess the severity of a spinal cord injury. This designation also contributes to an assessment for ‘catastrophic injury’ for an accident victim, when a specialist in Louisiana can be consulted to determine compensation.
Symptoms Of A Spinal Cord Injury
Depending on the location and severity of damage along the spinal cord, the symptoms can vary from pain or numbness to paralysis and incontinence. Other common signs and symptoms include loss of sensation, headaches, trouble walking, and unconsciousness. The spinal cord may not necessarily have been severed to result in a loss of function; it may also have been bruised, stretched, or crushed.
Causes Of Spinal Cord Injuries
The most common causes of spinal cord injuries include automobile accidents, falls, violence, sports and recreational injuries, and medical conditions like cancer, osteoporosis, and arthritis.
Auto collisions and slips, trips, and fall accidents result from carelessness or negligence. Driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs, distracted driving, speeding, and fatigue are leading causes of motor vehicle accidents due to negligence.
Situations that often cause slips, trips, and falls include a failure to promptly clean up liquid spills, poor lighting in precarious areas such as stairways, debris or obstacles on the floor, clutter obstructing or blocking a path, loose carpeting, and damaged flooring. These circumstances are particularly hazardous in public places such as office buildings, parking lots, restaurants, or stores. Like car accidents, spinal injury from slip, trip, and fall accidents is due to trauma to the neck and back area, resulting from the impact of violently striking a hard surface when a person falls.
Factors That Influence The Value Of Your Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuit
Numerous factors impact the value of a spinal cord injury case. The severity and permanent nature of spinal cord trauma and its effects on bodily functions can play a significant role. Other factors that can influence the valuation process include:
· The liability of the at-fault party and the quality of evidence against them;
· How much insurance coverage the at-fault party has;
· Immediate and future medical costs;
· Future earning capacity; and
· Property modifications to improve quality of life.
How Do Experienced Personal Injury Lawyers Value Your Claim?
Throughout the healing process, your spinal cord injury lawyer will obtain rigorous documentation from medical sources, laying the groundwork to prove your injuries and their worth.
A spinal cord injury’s total value depends on the medical costs surrounding primary injuries sustained at the accident and secondary injuries progressing with time. Your claim must also accommodate expenses associated with lifestyle modifications due to the injuries (made changes to vehicles or homes).
Possible non-economic damages, such as pain and suffering, mental anguish, or loss of companionship, are challenging to prove, and it’s important first to lay a strong foundation of proven economic damages that include easily quantified factors, such as exact hospital and physical rehabilitation bills.
The more thoroughly you can prove that the spinal cord injury interferes with your specific work, the more effective your claim will be.
Medical expenses for the continued treatment and care of a spinal cord injury are costly, and the victim could lose substantial income from an inability to work. Long-term care and assistance could also be needed, which must be factored into compensation for a spinal cord injury.
A spinal cord injury attorney at Bart Bernard Injury Lawyers can explain what your case might be worth based on the most recent case law in Louisiana, along with the steps needed to present the most substantial claim.
While you must act quickly to document the accident and your injuries, you shouldn’t let the insurance company rush you into a settlement according to its timeframe. In Louisiana, you have one year from the moment you become aware of your injury and damages, or the date you reasonably should have become aware, to file your personal injury claim.
Bart Bernard Injury Lawyers – Accomplished Trial Lawyers Achieve Favorable Settlements For Clients More Often Than Not
After a spinal cord injury caused by another person’s negligence in Louisiana, you owe it to yourself and your loved ones to pursue maximum damages from the liable party. A dedicated Louisiana personal injury law firm can help you recover the actual cost of your spinal cord injuries while you focus on your recovery. A spinal cord injury lawyer at Bart Bernard Injury Lawyers can help you, from compiling evidence of the accident and proving fault to communicating with the insurance company and accounting for the total costs associated with your injury.
Most attorneys who claim to be personal injury lawyers are trial shy.
They want to pluck the low-hanging fruit by discouraging clients from going to trial altogether.
Bart Bernard thrives and is in his element in the courtroom. There is nowhere he would rather be. Attorneys who go to trial and win cases develop a reputation that allows them to settle cases for fair value. Skilled trial lawyers will often get their clients a fair settlement.
If you or a loved one have sustained a spinal cord injury due to a careless driver, employer, medical professional, property owner, or anyone else in Louisiana, the experienced personal injury lawyers at Bart Bernard Injury Lawyers can help you. They’ll take the time to get to know you better and learn the exact circumstances surrounding your injuries. You’ll then receive an initial assessment of how much they think your spinal cord injury is worth and how to pursue it.
Contact us today for a free consultation.
