Getting Compensated for a Spinal Cord Injury in Las Vegas
In order to enjoy an independent and self-sufficient life, you need a functioning spinal cord. You’re your spinal cord is damaged, it can leave you debilitated and unable to even function normally.
Motorcycle accidents, auto wrecks, and other serious accidents can result in injuries to the spinal cord. Public data reveals that approximately 36% of all spinal cord injuries happen because of vehicular accidents. 21.2% of these kinds of injuries come about from falls.
Spine injuries can have devastating effects on an individual, including:
- Loss of movement
- Loss of sensation
- Dysfunction of the bowel and bladder
- Loss of the ability to breathe
- Inability to regulate blood pressure or body temperature
- Chronic pain
- There is no cure for spinal cord injury, only effective treatments and rehabilitation options.
A spine injury resulting from an automobile accident can significantly impact your life or the lives of your loved ones, and very often, another driver’s negligence is the cause for your pain and suffering.
Spinal Cord Injuries: What Are They?
When there damages to your spinal cord, you might lose sensation and mobility. Some people mistakenly believe that a cord needs to be detached for function loss to occur. However, people who suffer from spinal injuries generally have their cords intact.
Back injuries and spine injuries are not the same things. Back injuries are connected to pinched nerves, ruptured discs, and spinal stenosis.
Many People are Stricken with Serious Spinal Cord Injuries
In the United States, there are around 200,000 people living with spinal cord injuries. It’s estimated about more than 12,000 people will become victims of spinal cord injuries each and every year. If that was not bad enough, roughly 70 percent of those new victims are expected to be under the age of 35, which means many victims will be staring at years of physical therapy and massive medical bills.
For example, up to $30,000 is spent every year for each patient diagnosed with a serious spinal cord injury.
Most Common Symptoms of a Spinal Cord Injury
In a medical evaluation, physicians will look for the following signs:
- Loss of sensation in the limbs
- Muscle contractions
- Fractured or dislocated vertebrae
- Paralysis or low muscle strength
- Loss of normal bowel or bladder control
Common Spinal Cord Injury Causes
Common spinal cord injury causes include:
- Sports accidents
- Bike accidents
- Construction site incidents
- Slip/falls
- Vehicular collisions
Rehabilitation for a Spine Injury
Extensive surgery and treatment are usually required to reduce tissue swelling and remove fluid or reset bones. Once the patient has been deemed ready, rehabilitation can begin. These programs often involve relearning motor skills and practicing techniques to adapt their disability to daily life.
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Adjusting to a Significant, Life-Altering Spinal Cord Injury
Other treatment and lifestyle options to spinal cord injury victims who are struggling with permanent, irreversible damage include:
- Electronic wheelchairs that can move over unstable ground or climb stairs
- Computers that use voice recognition or keyguards
- Voice-activated electronic aids for doing household chores
- Electric stimulation devices that control arm and leg muscles for activities like standing, walking, and gripping
- Robotic gait training that enables patients to walk again
How Can a Nevada Personal Injury Attorney Help You?
Victims of accidents might need financial assistance and medical treatment for the rest of their lives. If someone else’s negligence led to a spinal cord injury, you’ll need the help of a personal injury lawyer based in Nevada.
Our law firm helps victims of accidents get the financial restitution they deserve to cover the costs of damages, including suffering and pain, medical debt, and lost wages.
How Spinal Cord Injuries Happen
When there is sudden impact or trauma to your spine, dislocated or fractured vertebrae follow. Although many spinal cord injuries happen due to serious automobile accidents, they may also happen due to injuries sustained from a sporting accident, work incident, or falls from either a specific height or slippery surface.
Spinal Cord Injuries and Extreme Pain Are Connected
There are a series of nerves in your spinal cord, all of which connect your body to your brain. If there are damages to the spinal cord, then your body and brain won’t have the ability to communicate with each other, which could lead to paralysis or sensation loss. Depending on the way this injury has affected the spinal cord, functionality could be lost in the rest of an injured party’s body (below a specific portion).
There are a couple of tracts – one that goes down and another that goes up – that sends information to your brain before signals are sent back to your body. If the injuries to your spinal cord are complete, your entire body will be affected equally.
Spinal cord pain can sometimes be overcome with pain medication, but other symptoms of a spinal cord injury can be just as troubling:
- an oddly positioned or twisted neck or back
- difficulty breathing
- difficulty with balance and walking
- exaggerated reflex activities or spasms
- loss of bladder or bowel control
- loss of ability to move
- loss of sensation, including the ability to feel touch, heat/cold
- numbness or tingling in the hands, fingers, feet or toes
- lack of coordination; weakness, or paralysis in any part of the body
How is a Spinal Cord Injury Diagnosed?
A spinal cord injury diagnosis is made by physicians using the following:
- X-rays
- CT (computerized tomography) scan
- MRI (magnetic resonance imaging)
- neurological tests
In many cases, chiropractor services and physical therapy can greatly improve an individual’s ability to function after a spinal cord injury. Additional treatment options include:
- immobilization to prevent further spinal cord damage
- medication, including methylprednisolone to reduce damage to nerve cells
- surgery to remove bone fragments or fractured vertebrae
- experimental treatments and surgeries
To Get the Financial Restitution You Deserve, You Might Have To Put up a Fight
Getting monetary compensation for a spinal cord injury won’t be easy. Most insurance agencies will contest personal injury claims requesting significant compensation for pain and suffering, medical treatment, and lost wages since their intention is to turn a profit (as opposed to compensating victims of injuries).
That’s why you need to hire a skilled and experienced legal firm. LV Personal Injury Lawyers offer effective and skilled legal counsel to get you the restitution you want.
If the spinal cord injuries you sustained happened at a construction site, was a slip and fall incident, or was a bicycle, truck, or car accident, you will probably face a lot of financial and personal challenges moving forward. That’s why negligent parties should be held responsible for their careless and reckless actions by way of a personal injury lawsuit.
How to Obtain Medical Treatment without Any Health Insurance
If medical care is necessary to treat an injury to your spinal cord, but you can’t afford it, an accident attorney in Las Vegas can aid you in locating a chiropractor, therapist, or doctor that is open to providing you with medical assistance on the basis of a medical lien. The lawyer will collaborate with therapists and doctors to ensure that your progress is properly chronicled.
Defense attorneys and insurers will usually say that medical data isn’t enough for the sake of delaying or avoiding payment to you. A skilled personal injury lawyer in Nevada will work diligently to ensure that this doesn’t happen to you.
Do Not Give Medical Records or Recorded Statements to Insurance Companies
Victims of accidents commonly get calls from claim adjusters who work for the insurance agency representing the negligent party. As friendly and sympathetic as they may seem, be mindful that these people are behaving this way with an agenda. Such individuals will endeavor to establish rapport with you. They’re trying to influence you into being transparent with them.
Always remember that insurance companies don’t have your best interests at heart. Their representatives will get in touch with you almost right after an accident, endeavoring to lowball your settlement amount. They may also try to trick you into making a recorded statement before you obtain legal counsel.
Considering the amount of stress you’ll be under during this time, it is important for you to be cautious and of sound mind when speaking with a claims adjuster. They will attempt to ease you into making a recorded statement while speaking with you over the phone. You are under no obligation to tell them anything. If you do happen to give them a statement of any kind, it will come back to haunt you during the claims process. When possible, try to speak with a Las Vegas personal injury attorney before you engage in any discussions with insurance company representatives.
From here, the insurance company will ask for medical authorization so they can gain insight into your health history. Don’t sign anything sent to you by an insurance agency without speaking to a lawyer first. The documentation you will be sent will be intentionally broad and vague. Signing such paperwork essentially gives them permission to read your entire medical history.
As per Nevada law, you are under no obligation to disclose your health records to anyone. Any medical records you release should only reveal details that pertain to injuries sustained from the accident. An insurance company will sift through your records to find anything that could devalue your claim. You can stop this from happening by not giving them blanket authorization.
Never Voluntarily Agree to Give a Recorded Statement Before Talking to an Attorney
When communicating with a claims adjuster, typically through phone calls and/or email, you need to be cautious. Why? Because every word and every statement could potentially be used against you down the road if a spinal cord injury lawsuit is filed in a Nevada court.
In most accident cases, an insurance adjuster will ask you to give a recorded statement over the phone. Do not agree to one before you have spoken to an attorney. This is because the recorded statement, especially responses concerning your health and injuries, could be used against you.
Cost of Hiring a Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer in Las Vegas
The cost to hire a spinal cord injury attorney in Las Vegas is nothing. Yes, you read that correctly – zero dollars upfront. This is because, in most injury cases, your attorney will operate on a contingent fee. This type of legal arrangement enables you to hire an experienced lawyer without having to pay anything out of your own pocket upfront.
In a contingency fee arrangement, your Las Vegas lawyer’s fees will be deducted from the final settlement, or from the final verdict, in your case. The exact contingent fee percentage will typically vary based on the type of case and when it gets resolved.
Do Not Let the Statute of Limitations Expire You Need to Hire a Las Vegas Spinal Cord Injury Attorney
If you are seriously injured in an accident, the clock begins to run on your legal right to pursue financial restitution for your harms and losses. This proverbial clock is known as the “statute of limitations” which are set forth by the Nevada Legislature. The statute of limitations is a series of state laws that set a strict, specific time limit on your right to file a case in a Nevada civil court. In Nevada, you typically have two years to file a civil action to pursue financial restitution for your spinal cord injury.
If you miss the cutoff date (i.e. letting the statute of limitations expire), then the defendant can use the statute of limitations as a defense and seek to have your case dismissed entirely.
Take Action Today – Contact LV Personal Injury Lawyers
Now is the time to take action in order to hold the negligent party accountable for your spinal cord injury. Contact the top-notch Las Vegas personal injury attorneys with our firm today. We will never charge an hourly fee for our services.
The skilled and knowledgeable attorneys at our law firm will put in the time necessary to obtain financial restitution for you if you experienced injuries to your body as a result of someone’s negligence.
To schedule a confidential meeting with attorney Zachary D. Clayton for free, contact us online or by phone.
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