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If you get injured in an accident that causes a spinal cord injury, your life may never be the same. At Dormer Harpring, our Denver personal injury lawyers know how to navigate spinal cord injury cases and other catastrophic injury claims involving life-changing repercussions for victims. We put our clients first, ensuring that they have everything they need to make it through this difficult time.
We are resourceful and highly experienced lawyers in Denver who can help you overcome your physical, emotional and financial damage from an accident. Learn more about how we can help you fight for justice and maximum financial compensation for your spine injury. Please contact us at (303) 747-4404 for a free spinal cord injury case consultation.
The question of whether you need to hire a personal injury lawyer depends on the facts of the case. If there is a liability dispute or other complications involved, an attorney can prove invaluable to help you work through them. In general, an injury as serious as one involving the spine or a permanent disability, such as paralysis, requires legal representation. An attorney can fight for fair financial compensation from an insurance company on your behalf.
Insurance companies are more interested in saving money than offering fair payouts to claimants – especially when one has a serious and expensive injury. During the claims process, trust an attorney to negotiate maximum compensation from an insurance adjuster for you. Your lawyer can take your case to trial in Denver County, if necessary, to achieve the case results that you deserve.
You can count on a lawyer to build the strongest possible personal injury claim while you focus on your medical recovery. Your lawyer will hire qualified medical experts and accident reconstructionists, interview eyewitnesses, collect records and documents, preserve other types of evidence, handle complex legal paperwork, and complete many other tasks for you while you concentrate on healing.
Spinal cord injuries can be complete or incomplete. A complete spinal cord injury means that the victim will suffer permanent paralysis, or the loss of feeling and function below the point of injury on the spine. An incomplete injury can result in partial or temporary paralysis. The level of damage inflicted depends in part on the location of the injury on the spine:
Injuries to the upper back and neck are generally the most severe, as they can result in paralysis from the neck down (quadriplegia or tetraplegia). Even if a spine injury does not cause paralysis – such as a bone fracture, disk herniation, spinal concussion, muscle strains and sprains, and nerve damage – it can be painful and debilitating.
After an accident victim is diagnosed with a spinal cord injury, health care providers will start treatment by immobilizing the spine and neck. This is crucial for preventing further damage or injury to the spine. Immobilizing the victim early on can prevent a more severe spine injury, such as preventing an incomplete spine injury from becoming a complete injury.
Spinal cord injury treatments are focused on preventing further injury and improving quality of life, as there is no known way to cure or reverse a spine injury. Common treatments include physical therapy, occupational therapy and rehabilitation. Surgery may also be necessary to repair the spinal cord as much as possible and stabilize the spine. Finally, new and experimental treatments are constantly being developed, such as modern prostheses and electrical stimulation devices.
If you get into an accident and suspect a spine injury – for example, if you feel pain anywhere in your back, cannot move certain limbs, or notice numbness or tingling anywhere in your body – remain as still as possible. It is easy to exacerbate a spinal cord injury by twisting or moving the wrong way. It is especially important to avoid moving your head or neck. Stay where you are unless it is necessary to move for your personal safety. Have someone call 911 and wait for paramedics to arrive.
Follow the directions of trained professionals as they help you into an ambulance. They will use a brace to immobilize your neck and spine first. At the hospital, doctors will use MRIs and other tests to determine if you have a spine injury. If so, follow your doctor’s treatment plan and attend all follow-up appointments. Keep copies of your medical bills and document your recovery journey. Then, when you’re ready, pursue justice with assistance from a spinal cord injury lawyer.
Spinal disks are the soft, flexible cushions between each vertebra of the spinal cord. They allow the spine to move and bend without discomfort. Spinal disks are rubbery on the outside and soft on the inside, like a jelly doughnut. If a spinal disk gets injured, it could rupture, leak, herniate or slip out of place. These injuries can cause a wide range of problems for the victim.
Spinal disk injuries can cause chronic pain and immobility. If the disk leaks or ruptures, it can place pressure on surrounding nerves, causing symptoms such as pain, numbness or tingling. In some cases, the pain of a disk injury can be crippling or extreme. A victim may also experience a loss of flexibility, along with muscle or tendon strains around the spine, when a disk is compromised. Disk injuries can be treated and repaired, in most cases.
Injury or damage to the spinal cord can happen in a number of ways in Denver, Colorado. Multiple types of accidents put victims at risk of neck, back and spine injuries. At Dormer Harpring, our attorneys have experience with many types of accidents, including:
Most of these accidents are caused by someone else’s carelessness or negligence (the failure to use reasonable care). In this case, the spinal cord injury survivor may be entitled to financial compensation from the at-fault party.
Liability, or financial responsibility, for an accident that inflicts a spinal cord injury will go to the person or party most at fault for causing the accident. This generally means the party or parties that were negligent or breached their duty of care. The duty of care is an obligation to act with ordinary and reasonable care, such as a driver’s responsibility not to text and drive.
When someone acts or behaves negligently, he or she can be held liable for a related spinal cord injury. The negligent party will become the defendant and the injured victim is the plaintiff. The burden of proof, or the requirement to prove the case being made, rests with the plaintiff. An attorney from Dormer Harpring can help you prove your claim and establish liability by presenting evidence of the defendant’s negligence.
The types of financial compensation, or damages, that may be available to you and your family in a personal injury case vary based on the losses that you sustained in the accident and how your injury continues to impact your life. Available damages often include past and future medical care, medical devices and medications, surgeries, therapies and rehabilitation, physical pain and suffering, emotional distress, property damage, lost wages, and punitive damages. Our lawyers can calculate the value of your case based on the circumstances.
If you or a loved one suffered a spinal cord injury due to the negligence of another person, you have a time limit of two years to file a personal injury claim. This is the State of Colorado’s statute of limitations, or a strict legal deadline with only some exceptions. If you attempt to file after two years have passed from the date of your accident or the date that you discovered your spinal cord injury, you could find that your right to seek compensation is gone.
There is an exception in Colorado for car accident cases. If your back or spine injury was caused by a motor vehicle accident, you have three years to file a personal injury claim. It is important, however, to initiate a claim as soon as possible. Waiting puts you at risk not only of missing your deadline but of losing important evidence to support your claim, as well. Eyewitness accounts of the incident, for example, may become unreliable if too much time passes.
At Dormer Harpring, our dedicated personal injury lawyers can help you navigate life after being diagnosed with a spinal cord injury. We will fight for the compensation that you need to reduce the financial burden associated with this catastrophic injury. While no amount of money will ever reverse what happened to you, it can lend you greater peace of mind and hope for the future.
Discuss your case with one of our Denver spinal cord injury lawyers today at no cost or obligation. Contact us online or call (303) 747-4404 anytime.