Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys in Fort Wayne

Each year in the United States, more than 12,000 people suffer a spinal injuries. It is one of the most devastating injuries. It instantly threatens the quality of living and the lifetime goals of victims and their families. Accumulating medical bills can be overwhelming, stressful, and add up quickly.

Our Fort Wayne personal injury attorneys understand the many struggles spinal cord injury victims face. Let us help. We work hard to get money for the physical, financial, and emotional damage caused by someone else’s behavior. Attorney Richard Truitt has represented catastrophically injured clients for more than 40 years. He carefully determines your case’s value and never settles for less.

Most spinal cord injury victims require years of care and have very little chance of making a full recovery. In fact, only 11 percent of spinal injury victims are back at work one year after their accident. The cost of the resulting long-term care can be in the millions. Contact our spinal cord injury lawyers for help with your claim, today.

What Are Common Accidents Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries?

More than 80 percent of all spinal cord injury victims are men, as they are more likely to do activities that increase the chance of injury.

Spinal cord injuries occur in many ways, including:

• Car accidents – Car and truck crashes are the leading cause of spinal cord injuries in the United States.
• Slip and Falls – These often happen at construction sites while working on roofs, scaffolding, ladders, cranes, and trenches.
• Violence – Gunshots are a significant cause of spinal cord injuries.
• Sports – High-impact activities can cause devastating damage to the spine.

Our spinal cord injury lawyers take these cases very seriously and do not rest until our clients have what they need to cope.

What are Common Types of Spinal Injuries?

The spinal cord sends messages from the brain to the rest of the body. When that link is damaged or cut, every daily activity is more difficult or impossible. A lifetime of health problems and medical care may be the result.

Types of spinal cord injuries that our attorneys handle:

• Paraplegia – Damage to the spinal cord which causes complete or partial paralysis.
• Quadriplegia – Usually caused by damage to the spinal cord in the neck area, resulting in loss of movement and feeling to arms and legs.
• Hemiparesis – Paralysis of one side of the body, most often caused by stroke.

No matter how severe an injury is, our attorneys are committed to achieving the results your case demands.

What is Complete Versus Partial Paraplegia?

All spinal cord injuries are classified as either complete or partial. When a person is diagnosed with complete paraplegia, their entire lower body has become paralyzed.

Partial paraplegics still retain some motor skills and sensation in their lower body. While nothing is guaranteed, partial paraplegics stand a better chance of regaining some sensation and motion. Partial paraplegia is still serious but allows an individual to retain their dignity, as bowel and bladder control is usually intact.

What Are Paraplegia Risks?

Partial paraplegics are at less risk of developing further diseases and require less preventative healthcare. Still, paraplegia requires attentive care by loved ones and the victim to avoid additional health complications, which can include:

• Pressure sores, muscular atrophy, and deep vein thrombosis due to a weakened immune system and lack of lower body sensation.
• Pulmonary embolism, blood clots, and stroke because of poor blood circulation.
• Development of diseases, such as pneumonia and septicemia, due to the body’s weakened immune system.
• Depression

What Compensation is Available for Paraplegia Victims?

Paraplegics require additional financial support in order to pay for the massive medical bills their condition necessitates. When another party’s misconduct or negligence results in paraplegia, a Fort Wayne spinal cord injury attorney may be able to recover compensation for your damages, which may include:

What Is Spinal Compression?

Spinal compression is caused when too much pressure is placed on the spinal cord.

What Causes Spinal Compression Injuries?

Spinal compression injuries usually occur in the two bottom vertebrae of the thoracic spine and the top vertebrae of the lumbar spine. Trauma to the spinal cord from a slip and fall, car accident, or sports-related accidents, or any event that causes stress to push the spinal cord beyond its normal range of flexibility can result in a spinal cord compression injury.

What Are the Symptoms of a Spinal Compression Injury?

The symptoms of spinal cord compression injuries range from severe pain in your legs and back, to numbness in the area surrounding the injury. Because spinal cord injuries cause damage to the nerve bundles protected by the vertebrae, the damage can extend beyond the immediate area and into corresponding areas of the body. Your doctor will be able to determine the severity of your injury with a physical examination and various diagnostic tests.

Can Spinal Compression Injuries Be Treated?

Most spinal cord compression injuries can be treated with decreased activity and spinal bracing. In some cases, surgery may be required. In any case, the necessity for decreased activity can negatively impact your ability to provide for your family. The medical bills associated with diagnosis and treatment, combined with the cost of prescription medications can quickly add up, leaving you and your family buried under a mountain of debt. An experienced spinal cord injury lawyer can help you get the settlement you deserve to protect your family, and allow yourself time to heal.

What Are Spinal Cord Lacerations?

Spinal cord lacerations are cuts or tears within the spinal cord itself. Lacerations cause a complete loss of sensation in both the immediate area and muscles that rely on the nerves that have been severed or damaged. The area affected depends on the bundle of nerves damaged. Lacerations in the cervical spine effect head, neck, intercostals, arms, and shoulders. Thoracic spine lacerations impact chest, and external abdominal muscles. Lumbar spine lacerations can cause loss of mobility in the abdomen, legs and genitals.

What Causes Spinal Cord Lacerations?

Spinal cord lacerations can be caused by any number of accidents, but in over 50 percent of instances, automobile accidents are responsible for this type of injury.

How Severe Can A Spinal Cord Laceration Be?

The severity of the injury is dependent on the depth and location of the laceration. In many cases, additional medical issues arise, including deep vein thrombosis, loss of bowel/bladder control, sexual dysfunction, seizures, and even death.

What Are The Treatments for Spinal Cord Laceration?

Treatments for spinal cord lacerations are costly and time consuming. During the periods of inactivity, your ability to work and take care of yourself and your family will be limited or impossible. Physical therapy to restore feeling and functionality is often a life-long process, consuming hours each week, with no guaranteed results. Worse still, these life-altering conditions are often the fault of an on the job accident, or the reckless and negligent behavior of someone else.

What is Spasticity?

Spasticity (muscle spasms) occurs after a spinal cord injury. The cause of spasticity is that nerve cells below the level of the injury become disconnected from the brain. This results in changes to the nerves that control muscle activity. Spasticity is an exaggeration of normal reflexes that can occur any time the body is stimulated below the injury. When muscles are stretched or something irritates the body below the level of the injury, muscle spasms can occur. Sensations from the body are transmitted to the spinal cord but because the nerve cells are disconnected it causes muscles to contract or spasm.

What Can Trigger Spasticity?

Almost any stimulation can trigger spasticity. There are some conditions that cause more of a problem. Kidney and bladder infections or skin break down will cause spasms to increase. If an individual with spinal cord injury doesn’t perform regular range of motion exercises their muscles and joints will become less flexible. The lack of flexibility can cause severe spasms even with minor stimulation. Injuries to the feet and legs can also increase spasticity.

The spasticity that results from spinal cord injury can also have some benefit to the injured person. Muscle spasms can serve as an indicator to identify pain or problems in areas that are lacking sensation. As an example, the spasms can be an indication of a urinary tract infection coming on. Spasticity also helps to maintain muscle size and bone strength, and maintain circulation in the legs.

Spasticity is just one condition related to spinal cord injury. If you live in Indiana and are dealing with spasticity or other injury related conditions contact an experienced Indiana spinal cord lawyer at Truitt Law Offices.

What are Some Surprising Statistics About Spinal Cord Injuries?

1. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC) estimates that there are about 40 new SCI cases for every 1 million people each year in the United States.
2. The NSCISC also reports that nearly eight out of every 10 new SCI cases involve males. The average age of an SCI victim is 42, and the majority of victims are non-Hispanic whites.
3. According to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, accidents at work and motor vehicle accidents are two of the most common causes of spinal cord injuries, and together account for approximately 52 percent of all SCIs. That is, more than half of SCIs are caused by either a vehicle crash or workplace accident.
4. The NSCISC provides similar findings, and concludes that vehicle crashes have been and remain the most common cause of spinal cord injuries in the United States since 2010.
5. The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation reports that nearly 90 percent of all spinal cord injury victims are discharged from the hospital to a private home. While this may seem like a positive statistic, remember that the family members of these victims often have to provide substantial care for them once they return home.
6. The Foundation also reports that average first-year costs for a new SCI victim can range from approximately $228,000 to over $770,000.
7. The Foundation states that a 25-year-old who suffers a spinal cord injury can expect to incur lifetime treatment costs of anywhere between $600,000 to well over $3 million.
8. The current average length of stay in the hospital for an SCI victim, according to the NSCISC, is believed to be 11 days. If the patient must attend rehabilitation, this stay is approximately 36 days in length on average.
9. NSCISC reports that out of all the patients who are admitted to the hospital for spinal cord injuries, less than 1 percent of those patients leave the hospital having achieved a complete neurological recovery after their injury. Forty-five percent of patients leaving the hospital experience partial or incomplete tetraplegia (quadriplegia) – a loss of sensation and/or control in their arms and legs.

Why Do Spinal Cord Injuries Require an Attorney?

Claims for payment for such devastating injuries can be extremely complex. Most victims and their families do not have the time, energy, or knowledge to get full payment for the injuries. If you do not receive enough money, you cannot pay for needed care and living expenses.

Truitt Law Offices considers every detail of a case, from the responsibility for the wrongful death or injury, to the insurance and medical bills you can expect five or 10 years from now. Let us worry about the specifics. You concentrate on your health and your family’s well-being.

What is the Statute of Limitations for a Spinal Injury Lawsuit in Indiana?

Two years is the statute of limitations for a personal injury lawsuit in Indiana. Should you not file your lawsuit before that time expires, you will have forfeited your opportunity to have your case heard in court.

Visit our Fort Wayne Spinal Injury Law Offices

Contact Our Fort Wayne, IN Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys

During this trying time, you need an experienced Fort Wayne paraplegia injury attorney on your side. Truitt Law Offices thoroughly investigates the injury and its cause and fights for deserved compensation. Call Richard Truitt and his dedicated Indiana team at (888) 665-1972.

We offer a free interview and you only pay a legal fee if we collect money on your behalf. Our law firm has offices in Huntington and Fort Wayne. We put our three decades of legal skills to work helping families in our hometowns and throughout Indiana.