Spinal Cord Injury can result in death, paralysis, loss of motor function, and pain for thousands of people every year. Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) is damage to the discs, vertebrae, ligaments, or the spinal cord itself.

Spinal cord injury typically is caused by a sudden and traumatic blow to the spine such as from an automobile wreck. Impact to the spine may dislocate, fracture, compress, or crush one or more of the vertebrae of the spine, impinging, penetrating or severing the delicate spinal cord. After the injury, additional damage commonly occurs, including swelling, bleeding, inflammation, and fluid accumulation around the spinal cord.

Signals and impulses travel from the brain, down the spinal cord, to nerves that extend throughout the body and the extremities. They also carry signals from various parts of the body, including organs, to the brain. When the spinal cord is damaged, signals can no longer travel to and from the brain, which produces pain and loss of mobility. Because of the injury, the victim’s brain and/or spinal cord is unable to send “healthy” neuro-messages that control muscle movements or that communicate or respond to heat, cold, pressure, and pain.

Spinal Cord Injury Attorney of Altizer Law, P.C.

Spinal Cord injuries are complex, and they often require surgery and months of recovery and rehabilitation time. The cost of treatment is commonly staggering. If you or a loved one has been injured in some way that caused a Spinal Cord Injury and the accident resulted from the negligence or wrongdoing of another person, you need the experienced and relentless legal representation of Altizer Law, P.C. If the injury was not your fault, you may be able to recover financial compensation for injuries and all the other harms and losses that you have suffered.

Please call as soon as possible after the injury, and we will be there to protect you and your loved ones. We will help you and your family cope with the outcome of the spinal cord injury by making the legal process understandable and not so scary. Our Team objective will be to build a legal case that will win the maximum compensation that you are entitled to under Virginia Law.

Your Legal Team on Your Side

There are approximately 12,500 new Spinal Cord Injury cases in the United States every year. This number does not include those who died at the scene of the accident. These injuries are severe and most require some level of care for the remainder of the patient’s life. There are currently approximately 276,000 living Americans who have Spinal Cord Injury. The average age at the time of injury is 42 years. Of those injured, 80 percent of new cases will be males.

Unfortunately, insurance companies and insurance adjusters are not your friends. More accurately and bluntly, they are your enemy. It is their job to pay zero to as little as possible to victims and their families in order to support the insurance company’s bottom line. Insurance adjusters will try to push you to settle quickly for a small amount of money, even when you have been seriously injured. So what is the remedy? The insurance company has their team and so do you, Altizer Law, P.C. The adjuster looks after his company; you have us to look after you.

The Need-to-Know Facts of Spinal Cord Injuries – Serious and Costly

Please remember this: A serious spinal cord injury will require treatment throughout the victim’s lifetime. So, to settle quickly would be devastating to your future and to your family and loved ones. Just to give you an idea, about 30 percent of people with spinal cord injury are admitted to a hospital one or more times during any given year following the initial injury. The length of these hospital visits averages 22 days. Spinal Cord Injury victims often need in home care services, assistance with activities of daily living, transportation, medical supplies, all for the rest of their lives. These costs can add up in the millions of dollars of a person’s lifetime:

The Facts — Leading Causes of Spinal Cord Injury

The leading causes of spinal cord injury are:

Vehicle accidents 30. 08%
Falls 29.54%
Acts of violence 14.41%
Sports and recreation 8.39%
Other 8.57%

Further, alcohol is a factor in about one-fourth of all spinal cord injuries.

The Facts — Levels of Spinal Cord Injury and Effects

Spinal Cord Injuries are of two kinds: complete and incomplete. Complete injuries result in permanent loss of motor and nerve function below the point of injury. Incomplete injuries,, which are more common, result in some degree of sensation and movement loss below the point of injury. Spinal Cord Injury is also characterized by the location of the injury in the spine. The portion of the spine injured determines the types of motor function, pain, and sensation affecting a specific portion of the body. The higher the injury in the spine, more of the body will be affected.

The following graphic shows the type of injury, damage and long-term effects of spinal cord injury.

Call Altizer Law, P. C., . . . As Soon As You Are Able

The sooner you call us, the sooner we can get to work on your behalf. While you are healing, or helping your loved one heal, and making decisions about medical treatment and rehabilitation, we will start preserving evidence and building a legal case. If you have not done so, we will notify your insurance company.

Remember that we have expertise and experience in Spinal Cord Injury cases. We are empathetic with what you and your family are going through. We will be there with you when you need us, and we will lend the assistance you need with decisions, disputes, locating professionals to help with recovery, and to represent you in negotiation or in court.