Riverside Back & Spinal Cord Injury Attorney

A spinal cord injury is one of the most serious and devastating outcomes of accidents, and back injuries can be debilitating and painful. If you have suffered one of these injuries in an accident, you should consult with a back and spinal cord injury lawyer right away to learn whether you have a potential legal case for compensation.

At Heiting & Irwin, our Riverside back and spinal cord accident injury lawyers understand that you are facing a difficult situation and need every dollar that you can get in compensation. Our personal injury law firm has been successfully serving the Riverside area since 1976 because we get results for our clients.

Our office is located at 6346 Brockton Ave, Riverside, CA 92506, between Central and Merrill Avenues. Call us today at (951) 682-6400 to schedule a free initial consultation.

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Also, what many people do not know is that there are often several possible defendants in a products liability claim as each party involved in the process is a potential defendant, not just the final seller.

The Effects of Back and Spinal Cord Injuries

Both back and spinal cord injuries can cause serious disruptions in one’s life. If you have suffered a back injury, you may be dealing with constant pain and loss of your range of motion, or even pain and numbness (or paralysis) into your extremities! Back injuries can worsen over time, even if you get medical treatment. You may be dealing with an extended period of discomfort, and you may even never be the same again physically.

Here are some back area injuries that are associated with accidents:

• Herniated and ruptured discs
• “Slipped” discs
• Fractured vertebrae or other components
• Sciatica
• Spinal stenosis
• Facet joint injuries
• Trapped nerves
• Fractured pelvis
• Fractured ribs

Spinal cord injuries are even more serious. Your spinal cord is what transmits messages from the brain to the rest of your body. If the spinal cord is damaged or severed, parts of your body can lose the ability to communicate, and therefore even to move.

Types of spinal cord injuries include:

• Cervical: This is often the most serious type of spinal cord injury because it occurs at the area between the head and neck and affects the greatest amount of your body. This type of spinal cord injury is often associated with quadriplegia, which means that the accident victim loses use of all limbs. Parapalegia (usually loss of use of the legs) or hemiplegia (loss of use of one side or the other) are also very possible.
• Thoracic (mid back): This type of spinal cord injury affects the area in the middle and upper back, and it is also a catastrophic outcome of an accident. Patients could lose movement in their hands and legs, and lose abdominal strength.
• Lumbar (low back): Patients may experience a loss of motion or control in their hips, legs and / or feet.
• Sacral (tailbone area): Patients can lose motion and feeling in their legs, and they may also lose control of their bowel and bladder.

Medical Costs to Treat Back and Spinal Cord Injuries

Back and spinal cord injuries can lead to extremely high medical needs and bills. Even without damage to the spinal cord, accident victims may face the need for one or more costly surgeries. For example, simple procedures can cost up to $90,000. If your injury requires a spinal fusion, this procedure is reported to cost over $200,000. These are just the costs of surgery. You will also need ongoing medical care and rehabilitation, and many other costs and disciplines will be involved. Of course, the level of costs that you and your family face depends on the severity of the injury.

According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, the medical costs for a spinal cord injury can be as follows:

• High spinal cord injuries can cost roughly $1.3 million in the first year, followed by annual costs of over $250,000, even if there is only one surgery
• Paraplegia treatment can cost over $700,000 in the first year, with annual costs thereafter approaching at least $90,000

Seeking Compensation for Your Back or Spinal Cord Injury

When you have suffered a back or spinal cord injury in an accident, you will need to prove that someone else’s negligence was the cause of your injury. Your Riverside back and spinal cord injury attorney will gather the evidence that you need and will act to prove your case.

What Does My Back and Spinal Cord Settlement Cover?

Medical costs to treat a back or spinal cord injury are high enough, but those are far from the only things that hurt you when you have been injured so severely. You are legally entitled to be paid for all of your past and reasonably anticipated future financial losses:

• Medical treatment
• Adaptive aids and the cost to retrofit your residence to accommodate your condition
• The cost of home health care or aides that are necessary to help with the activities of daily life
• Modifications to your vehicles, home, and worksite
• Lost wages that you had to forgo because you could not work or your earnings capacity was limited
• Other damages that are caused by the accident

If you have suffered a serious injury, your economic losses may be only a fraction of the total amount of money that you are due. You are also entitled to be paid for your non-economic damages, which include the physical and mental effects of your injury. (Pain and suffering is often the largest part of your non-economic damages. If you have suffered a serious and debilitating injury, your pain and suffering award can be several multiples of your medical expenses.)

Contact a Riverside Personal Injury Lawyer

Back and spinal cord injuries can lead to significant losses, and the Riverside and Southern California attorneys at Heiting & Irwin are here to fight for every dollar you deserve in compensation. Schedule a free initial consultation with a back and spinal cord injury attorney by visiting our website or by calling us today at (951) 682-6400.