Houston Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer

Spinal cord injuries are severe, traumatic injuries that can be devastating to a person’s health and well-being. Often, spinal cord injuries lead to long term health issues, ranging from ongoing pain to partial or full paralysis. When you are hurt and suffer a spinal cord injury, you need experienced lawyers who regularly handle spinal cord injury cases, to advise you on how to prosecute your case.

How Do Spinal Cord Injuries Happen?

Spinal cord injuries are caused by a number of dangerous situations, but oftentimes, they result from a traumatic event such as a fall from a high place.

Work Created Dangerous Situation: These injuries are all too common in industrial and worksite settings where workers are required to work at high-risk altitudes in perilous situations.

Faulty Equipment: Sometimes spinal cord injuries happen due to a worker’s faulty equipment, such as a failure in a fall protection system.

Improperly Assembled or Maintained Equipment: In other instances, the failure of other companies or contractors can lead to catastrophic injuries, such as when an incorrectly assembled scaffolding comes apart while a worker is standing on it.

Policies and Procedures: A final way in which spinal cord injuries occur in the workplace is when companies have unsafe policies and procedures that lead to workers being placed in precarious positions.

What Happens When I Have a Spinal Cord Injury?

You will need to see a doctor immediately after suffering a spinal cord injury, and they will likely perform a series of tests to determine the extent of your injuries. You may need to undergo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI’s), computerized tomography (CT’s), and/or X-rays to determine the severity of your injury. They may perform additional testing to determine whether you have suffered partial or total loss of sensory and motor function. You may need to use a brace or a wheelchair when you are discharged from the hospital, and you may need to undergo one or more procedures to attempt to address the injuries you have suffered.

Even if you do not have a complete loss of functions, spinal cord injury rehabilitation can be lengthy, difficult, and costly.

Types of Damages in Spinal Cord Injury Cases

Lawsuits involving spinal cord injuries often require a complex damages analysis due to the different ways in which the injuries can affect you. Because these injuries are so severe, a jury will look at a number of issues in determining what to award in your case. For example, a jury will evaluate the impact the spinal cord injury has had on your life, and how it is likely to affect your life going forward. Spinal cord injuries can significantly impact your day-to-day life and can also lead to premature mortality. A jury will hear testimony about the things you could do before your injury that you cannot do now.

Medical care for spinal cord injuries is also highly expensive. A jury considering your damages will take into account the cost of your past and future medical care to make sure you are awarded an amount that will cover these expenses for as long as needed. Similarly, you may require medical devices to help with your rehabilitation and care. These devices could include a wheelchair or a spinal cord stimulator, which is a device that is implanted in your body and provides low levels of electricity directly into your spine to relieve pain. The jury will evaluate these additional costs in determining what your case is worth. Further, medical damages are particularly important in spinal cord injury cases because insufficient and inadequate medical care following a significant spinal cord injury can lead to additional restrictions in your life activities.

Often, one of the most difficult tasks for a jury to undertake is to determine the value of your pain and suffering and mental anguish, and this is particularly true in spinal cord injury cases. It is not uncommon that direct damage to the nerves in the spinal cord can lead to pain being experienced throughout the injured person’s life. A jury evaluating a spinal cord injury case will be able to award compensation for this chronic pain.

Examples of Spinal Cord Injury Cases

Spinal cord injuries happen in all types of workplace settings. For example, in a recent Texas case the plaintiff alleged he suffered catastrophic injuries when he fell over 140 feet from a suspended platform at a wind turbine. The plaintiff’s fall protection equipment failed as the platform went into an uncontrolled descent. While the plaintiff lived, he suffered severe injuries to his spinal cord that left him partially paralyzed.

Spinal cord injuries can happen in other ways, as well. For instance, a high impact collision with an 18-wheeler could cause compression of the spinal cord by a sudden, forceful impact that jolts the spine and causes it to bend or twist unnaturally. Heavy machinery at construction sites such as front loaders, forklifts, and other transport vehicles can also be the cause of spinal cord injuries if they collide with workers on the ground or drop heavy objects on workers at the site. Often, these incidents can be attributed to a failure to appropriately coordinate and communicate the work on site.

Statute of Limitations

It is important that you immediately pursue your claims for a spinal cord injury. Not only can evidence be modified or discarded, but also, you may have a limited time to bring your claims. In Texas and Louisiana, you have only two years from the date of the incident to bring a claim for spinal cord injuries, while in Mississippi, you have three years from the date of the incident. Although this may seem like a significant time window, the investigation process alone can take months or even years to figure out who and what caused your injuries.

How to Find a Good Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer

Who you choose to pursue your spinal injury claims matters. Without the right attorney, you may miss opportunities early on to preserve evidence and find out the information you need to file a lawsuit against the right people. By hiring the right lawyer, you can also guarantee that your attorneys will fight hard for you in the courtroom and will make sure the companies responsible for your injuries are held accountable for their actions.

The spinal cord injury lawyers at Morrow & Sheppard work on contingency, meaning you do not pay us unless we win. We invite you to contact us for a free case consultation and evaluation of your spinal cord injury case.