Spinal Injuries
Although the spinal cord is only 18 inches long, and is made up of tiny, delicate nerve cells, a spinal cord injury (SCI) can be a traumatic and devastating injury resulting in a lifetime of pain, suffering and huge medical expenses. At the California Attorney Group, we know how devastating these injuries can be, and we have more than 25 years of experience in helping spinal cord injury victims put their lives back together.
An SCI typically involves some type of trauma to the nerve cells that form the spinal cord. As the spinal cord carries messages from the brain to various parts of the body to control functions such as movement, breathing, speaking, and other critical body functions, an injury to the spinal cord disrupts this communication, leading to the impairment of the body's sensory, motor and involuntary reflex functions. Depending upon the nature and extent of the SCI, these disruptions can lead to two devastating conditions: paraplegia (paralysis of the lower portions of the body) or quadriplegia (paralysis of the upper and lower parts of the body).
The principal causes of SCI are motor vehicle collisions, slip and falls, acts of violence, sports-related injuries, and other incidents that cause injury or compression to the nerve cells of the spinal cord. Approximately 250,000 Americans currently suffer form some form of SCI, and there are about 11,000 new cases annually.
The costs related to SCI can be staggering. More than half of all spinal cord injuries result in quadriplegia, resulting in an average hospital stay of 95 days and approximately $140,000 in medical expenses. For individuals who sustain SCI at the age of 25, the average lifetime medical costs for quadriplegia is $1.35 million. And these figure does not take into account the physical and emotional suffering of the victims, the loss of wages and other income, and the financial and emotional burdens that SCI places on the victims' care givers, who are more often than not close family members of the victim.
Ten Important Things to do right after an accident
- Get the name, address, telephone number and driver's license information, license plate number of the party involved in the accident.
- Get the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all the witnesses.
- Do not speak to the insurance carrier of the other party involved in the accident.
- Take pictures of any damaged motor vehicles involved in the accident, if any.
- Take pictures of your injuries.
- Take pictures of the scene of the accident.
- Obtain immediate medical attention from an experience medical provider, and inform medical provider in regards to all of your body that is injured.
- Call the police to make an accident report.
- Do not speak with anyone else in regards to your car accident.
- Contact California Attorney Group and speak with an experience attorney for an immediate free consultation.
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