If you are reading this, there is no doubt that you have questions. You have worries. You have anxiety. You have difficulty perceiving your body because of the terrible nerve damage.
After a serious injury and hospitalization, perhaps you, like many paraplegic spinal cord injury victims, are constantly thinking over and over, in a deep sense within, that life is going to be different from what it used to be. There is no doubt that it is very difficult to know exactly what to think or how to feel because so many uncertainties, fears, and doubts have set in so quickly into your life. Various thoughts, feelings and questions are common, such as:
- Do these doctors around me really know what’s wrong?
- It doesn’t really matter what they say because I’ve always come back from injury—I work hard.
- What will my friends and family think of me?
- I need to get back to playing hockey…I can’t live like this.
- I don’t want my girlfriend to see me like this. Maybe I should have died?
- What will my co-workers think of me…
- How will I go to the bathroom…
- My toes and ankles must be asleep. I must be sleeping. This is a dream; it’s unreal.
- Am I going to die young because of my spinal cord injury?
After a paraplegic spinal cord injury, we have heard clients say that they are unable to think clearly. They can’t process thoughts properly. This could be a reaction to the serious injuries or may be due to your pain, drugs, poor sleep and/or being in the hospital. You may also have received a brain injury at the time of your spinal injury, which can contribute to mental and psychological changes, even though they may be mild or short-lived. It is certainly not uncommon for accident victims to sustain a brain injury and a spinal cord injury in the same accident.
Our Hamilton lawyers understand that the onset of a paraplegic injury is no doubt catastrophic and has devastating impacts, including far-reaching physical, social and psychological consequences. Not only are the lives of paraplegic victims changed in a moment from a physical perspective, but research on the psychological impact following the sudden onset of SCI has clearly shown time and time again that accident victims will develop severe negative emotions in response to the injury which could threaten employment, psychological and social integration back into society.
What is a paraplegic spinal cord injury, and how will it affect my life?
If you are reading this, you already know that a paraplegic spinal cord injury occurs when there is serious damage to the spinal cord that interrupts communication between the brain and the rest of your body. Paraplegia injury refers to the impairment or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the thoracic, lumbar or sacral (but not cervical) segments of your spinal cord, secondary to damage of neural elements within the spinal canal. With paraplegia, arm functioning is normally spared, but the trunk, legs and pelvic organs may be involved depending on the level of injury.
After a spinal cord injury, your sensory, motor and reflex messages are seriously affected and may not be able to get past the damage in the spinal cord. Normally, the higher on the spinal cord the injury occurs, the more dysfunction the person will experience. The simplest and most useful method of classification of acute SCI is into complete and incomplete injuries.
Complete or incomplete spinal cord injuries are based on whether any movement and sensation occurs at or below the level of injury. The ASIA classification is the most widely used international system to document sensory and motor impairment following SCI.
What type of help will I need? Who will pay for all of my care?
There are very common questions. Paraplegic injuries are a devastating event for which we have yet to find a cure. Several treatment methods have been introduced to minimize subsequent nerve damage and improve functional recovery. However, there are no methods to reverse injury or replace damaged neurons. Paraplegia requires an absolute lifelong commitment to rehabilitation and adaptation to acquired disabilities.
It’s hard to think of this now, but your lifelong rehabilitation is the priority. With proper funding, your Rehabilitation should and will focus on achieving and maintaining good health, maximizing function, and promoting good quality of life.
How can our Hamilton Paraplegic lawyers help you?
If you are suffering because of the wrongdoing of another person, driver or company, our experienced Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyers will not only prosecute and establish that the defendant or accused party is guilty of wrongdoing and liable for your damages, but we must also specify how you have been impacted and represent to a Court or settlement the entirety of your damages in monetary terms. In other words, we ensure that you receive enough compensation to help care for your needs for the remainder of your life.
What type of people will help care for me?
Firstly, there is nothing predictable about the psychological and physical sequelae of a paraplegic-type injury. Every individual is different, but yet many are surprisingly similar. Typically, medical and rehabilitation needs are extensive following a severe spinal cord injury and routinely extend beyond the scope of any one clinical discipline. Many people must be retained to help you in the rehabilitation centre, during your return home and for the rest of your life.
Typically, our lawyers retain very experienced life care planners to help gather the appropriate information to evaluate your current and future needs resulting from the onset of your injury. The rehabilitation and care of a paraplegic injury is ideally delivered by what we call an “interdisciplinary team” (meaning different medical practices) working collaboratively. Traditionally, the lifelong core rehabilitation team that helps paraplegic victims has consisted of:
Physical Therapy: traditionally focused on aspects of mobility, such as ambulation, wheelchair mobility, and transfer performance. Maximizing mobility often requires addressing strength, balance, coordination, and endurance. Bracing and other orthotics are often incorporated into the treatment plan.
Occupational Therapists: typically focus on helping our lawyer determine the particular requirements of ongoing attendant care and assist in performing activities of daily living (ADLs). Strategies address strengthening, active-assisted range-of-motion, fine motor control, and accessibility of the environment both at home and in the community. Occupational therapists are a core requirement that is always incorporated into the treatment plan to facilitate and promote functional independence.
Rehabilitation Providers: typically provide daily care, monitor health, participate in patient education, and collaborate with the rehabilitation team to maximize patient independence with self-care activities. Rehabilitation psychology, social work or case management, and a physician.
Social Workers: typically provide emotional support and adjustment counselling related to illness or disability, identify community resources and supports, help address important social needs (e.g., finances, housing), and facilitate community reintegration through discharge planning. Case managers can also serve many of these functions but typically do not provide counselling.
Physiatrists and pain doctors: will continue to help diagnose conditions and underlying paraplegic impairments, participate in goal setting and treatment plan formulation, monitor and manage medical issues, and contribute to educational needs. Physicians and pain doctors, who typically serve as the rehabilitation team lead, are funded by OHIP.
Psychologists: provide important mental and emotional support. Examples of activities include the screening and treatment of depression, addressing substance abuse, assessing cognition (particularly with comorbid brain injury), and facilitating client adjustment to new impairments and limitations.
Other common members of the team include speech-language pathology, recreational therapy, respiratory therapy, and rehabilitation aides. Other areas of care and rehabilitation that you may no doubt face and require are:
- Neuropsychology
- Respiratory therapy
- Developmental Psychology Assistance
- Audiology
- Assistive Technology
- Nutrition Assistance
- Behavioural Psychology
- Recreational therapy
- Speech therapy
- Vocational rehabilitation
- Lifelong rehabilitation aides
- Supplemental Tutoring
The composition of your particular rehabilitation team will no doubt vary depending on the characteristics of your individual paraplegic impairments. Still, our job as Hamilton paraplegic lawyers is to ensure that all of these individuals are paid and can assist you for life. The people you will require in your life and incorporated into your lifelong treatment will be dynamic because we must constantly adjust to your needs. As paraplegic individuals, we want to ensure that all team members have regular meetings and good communication to ensure the optimal environment for your rehabilitation. The ultimate goal is to achieve the best functional outcome most efficiently.
Will I ever be able to work again?
With pediatric life care plans, recommendations may be made for psychoeducational testing to qualify your child for special education services, classroom accommodations, or curriculum modifications.
In adult life care plans, we typically recommend funding-supported vocational goals. Vocational counselling support for an adult with a paraplegic injury is often necessary, particularly if you are no longer able to perform the essential functions of your pre-injury job.
Our Hamilton personal injury lawyers can make sure that recommendations such as retraining, worksite accommodations, assistive technologies, job placement assistance, vocational counselling, and other interventions are cited within your life care plan and are adequately paid for.
If you can return to work at some point, we believe it is vital to recognize vocational rehabilitation as a means of returning you to gainful employment. When returning to work is not possible due to the nature of your paraplegia, we believe it is equally important to consider vocational alternatives such as part-time work, volunteer opportunities, or other forms of purposeful activity. Studies have shown that work of some sort has therapeutic, psychological, and social value.
How much will my lifelong rehabilitation and treatment cost?
In short, the care and support for paraplegic injuries, depending on the age of the victim, can typically range anywhere from two million ($2,000,000.00) to fifteen million ($15,000,000.00) dollars. The life care plan we will retain will help us establish your paraplegic condition, enumerate all of your future needs, and provide both item-specific and overall costs of the recommendations.
Personal assistance and Occupational Therapy typically represent the most expensive component of an individual paraplegic’s life care plan – but be rest assured that all projected evaluations to be completed over your life expectancy will be identified in the life care plan, no matter if such therapies may be deemed necessary on a long-term or periodically, depending upon your needs. Besides the individuals mentioned above who will care for and assist you, we want to ensure that other modalities are completely paid for, such as:
- Wheelchair needs, accessories and maintenance
- Facilitating community integration
- Prescription Medicine
- Orthopedics and Prosthetics
- Home Modifications
- Home Furnishing and Accessories
- Aides for Independent Function
- Supplies
- Home Care
- Facility Care
- Leisure and Recreation Costs
- Case Managers
- Transportation
Does it cost me (or my family) anything to retain your firm?
No—we NEVER ask for money upfront. We work on contingency, meaning that you only pay your legal fees if we win at the end of your case. We pay for everything upfront, including the costs of the life care plan and appropriate experts in your case who will assist us in fighting with the insurance company for every possible dollar.
Has your loved one suffered a paraplegic injury? We are experienced paraplegic lawyers who can help.
If you or a loved one suffers from a paraplegic injury due to someone else’s negligence, you must retain an experienced lawyer for paraplegic injuries without delay. As experienced personal injury lawyers in Hamilton, and with the help of experts, we can quickly maintain and determine the evaluation of your or your loved one’s current needs and their anticipated needs throughout your life expectancy based upon applicable clinical practice guidelines, standards of care, published research literature, and collaboration with the members of all of your treatment team. Call us 24/7 at 905-333-8888. We will happily visit you and your family to discuss your concerns and legal options. Alternatively, you may fill in a contact form, and someone from our office will get back to you within 24 hours.
At Lalande Personal Injury Lawyers, we take pride in being trusted Hamilton personal injury lawyers since 2003. Over the years, we’ve helped our clients recover more than $45 Million in settlements and verdicts in personal injury, disability, and employment law cases. Whether you’re dealing with a life-changing injury, a denied disability claim, wrongful death, a hurt child or employment termination, we are here to provide compassionate and experienced legal representation. If you believe you have a case, call us today—we’re ready to help you secure the compensation you deserve.
Call Lalande Personal Injury Lawyers today, no matter where you are in Ontario at 905-333-8888 for your free consultation. Alternatively, you can contact us online, confidentially, by filling out a contact form.
*This information has been obtained from our experience and knowledge of spinal cord injury law as well as Medical Peer Reviewed Journals and Medical Studies from SCIRE (Spinal Cord Injury Research Evidence)