Spinal cord injuries are far more complicated than one would think.
Injury to the spinal cord, the actual injury itself, is called myelopathy – damage to the white matter (myelinated) fiber tracks that transport signals up and down the spine from the brain. Interestingly enough, there is also another area of the body, that when damaged, is also referred to as a spinal injury – the grey matter at the central part of the brain.
Generally speaking, the most common reason a person sustains a spinal cord injury is due to trauma of some sort, such as falls, car accidents, diving accidents, gunshots, and even war injuries. Tumors also cause spinal injury – metastatic cancer, astrocytomas and meningiomas, etc., as does spinal bifida. There is a need to know the precise reason for any injury, as it directly relates to treatment and management of the condition.
If you’ve been diagnosed with spinal cord injuries, you were likely told that the injury was either complete or incomplete. Complete injuries are those where the patient doesn’t have any function below the level of the injury, or in other words, there is no mobility. Incomplete injuries are not as severe and many patients will have some movement below the injury site.
Surprisingly, there are a great many of these injuries reported every year, and in the U.S. alone there are approximately 450,000 Americans living with this condition in one form or another. Unfortunately, there is no cure for damages done to the spinal cord. However, having said that, after the initial treatment when the spinal cord injury presents in the ER, the intervention given will have an enormous effect on the outcome.
Living with a spinal cord injury is not an easy thing to do, and if you did not consult a personal injury attorney, you may be having a very difficult time paying bills and getting therapy. If you’re faced with a spinal cord injury diagnosis, it’s imperative you speak with a competent personal injury attorney who knows how to properly valuate your injuries for a lawsuit. You may be eligible for quite a sum of money based on the severity of your injury, and the costs involved to manage it now and in the future.
Robert Webb is an Atlanta personal injury lawyer with Webb & D’Orazio, a law firm specializing in Atlanta personal injury, malpractice, criminal defense, and business law. Learn more about Atlanta personal injury lawyer, Atlanta personal injury, Atlanta business law, Atlanta criminal defense at Webbdorazio.com.
