Complete Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord injuries may devastate your ability to carry out even the most basic day-to-day tasks. If you or someone close to you has suffered a complete spinal cord injury due to an accident caused by someone else’s negligence, you need to reach out to a Baltimore spinal cord injury lawyer at the earliest opportunity. At Arfaa Law Group, we can help determine and assert the full scope of your legal rights.

The spinal cord is a column of nerve tissue protected by the spine that is in charge of delivering messages from the brain to the rest of the body. A spinal cord injury (SCI) may vary in severity based on a number of factors, including the location of the injury on the spinal cord. An SCI typically results in decreased movement, sensation, or function below the site of the injury. A complete spinal cord injury takes place when the damage to the spinal cord is so severe that it eliminates the brain’s ability to send signals below the point of the injury. In other words, the damage is absolute and permanent. Paraplegia and quadriplegia would be examples of complete SCIs. Paraplegia is the paralysis of the legs and even the lower torso, while quadriplegia is the paralysis of all four limbs.

In the context of personal injury cases, a spinal cord injury typically refers to damage to the spinal cord resulting from trauma. This trauma may arise from situations such as auto accidents, slip and falls, medical malpractice, or faulty products. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center reports that 17,000 new cases of spinal cord injuries take place in the United States each year. The data reveals that between 2010 and 2015, approximately 38 percent of spinal cord injuries were caused by motor vehicle accidents, and 30 percent were caused by falls.

A severe injury to the spinal cord will typically be considered catastrophic, due to the long-term and even permanent consequences that this type of injury may have for a victim’s life. If you or your loved one has suffered a spinal cord injury due to someone else’s negligence, you have a right to seek compensation from an at-fault party with the assistance of a spinal cord injury attorney in the Baltimore area. Negligence is a failure to use reasonable care that results in an injury or death to someone else. Reasonable care is defined as how a prudent person would act under the same circumstances. A basic negligence claim consists of establishing that the defendant owed a duty to use reasonable care, the defendant breached that duty, and the defendant’s breach was the direct cause of the plaintiff’s spinal cord injury. The plaintiff also must show that they incurred damages, which are usually substantial in these cases.

Treating a spinal cord injury may be extremely costly. Fortunately, under Maryland law, victims of catastrophic injuries may pursue both economic and non-economic damages for their harm. Typically, a victim may recover compensation for medical bills, rehabilitation costs, pain and suffering, lost income, future medical costs, and any other losses related to the injury.

If you or a loved one has suffered a spinal cord injury, it is important to contact a knowledgeable injury lawyer who can review the details of your case. We understand the serious financial, physical, and emotional toll that a spinal cord injury may take on an accident victim as well as their entire family. Baltimore spinal cord injury attorney Julia Arfaa is committed to pursuing the compensation that her clients deserve for their harm. We represent people throughout the state of Maryland in a wide range of personal injury claims. To learn more or to set up a free consultation, call us at 410-889-1850 or contact us online.