We understand that an accident victim, as well as their families, will no doubt suffer major bereavement, distress and grief following a major catastrophic loss like quadriplegic spinal cord injury (SCI).
$5 Million to $15 Million – is what it can easily cost to fund the care and rehab costs for a quadriplegic injury victim. WE WILL FIGHT FOR EVERY LAST PENNY.
A quick Summary from Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyers:
You will no doubt have questions about how life will be different than it used to be. It’s difficult to know how to think, how to feel, how to interact, and how to cope – because now your life is no doubt filled with many, many uncertainties after a quadriplegic injury.
How do you cope? You will have thoughts, feelings and questions, such as –
- will you ever walk again, move again, feel again?
- What will my friends think of me?
- What will my family think of me?
- Who will take care of me?
- Who will pay to take care of me?
- Will there be enough money to care for me and pay the people to take care of me?
- I’ve gotten through things before, and I know I’m ready to get through them again. This isn’t happening to me.
Our quadriplegic spine injury lawyers understand that losing the control and sensation of one’s body for toileting, mobility, sexual activity, and, in general, independence allows one to maintain a certain lifestyle, which is an important element in how we perceive ourselves during the grieving process. Even more importantly – we understand your worry about who and how you will pay for your care after suffering a quadriplegic injury, for your rehabilitation, supplies, your transportation, your home, or your apartment.
If you are not able to get back to work and make a regular income, who will pay for all of the things you are used to?
Unfortunately, most people do not understand the incredible living costs, the medical and rehabilitation costs and the overall needs throughout a quadriplegic victim’s entire life. Fortunately, our spinal cord injury lawyers routinely work with economists and experts who can quantify the lifetime costs for victims of quadriplegic spinal cord injuries. We work with some of the Province’s best doctors, occupational therapists and accountants who can help narrow your needs and associated costs, which can easily range from $5,000,000 to $15,000,000, depending on the victim’s age.
Our law firm understands that compensation can no doubt restore some routine, reduce worry and instill a sense of anxiety-free peace in their daily lives as they and their loved ones face the struggles and challenges of coping with their new day-to-day reality, even if it can never make them entirely whole.
After suffering a quadriplegic injury – you will have mixed emotions.
After a quadriplegic injury, it’s very difficult to think clearly. You will be filled with anxiety and worry, and you’ll find it tremendously difficult to handle many emotions that you will feel. You will have difficulty feeling your body accurately because of the onset of nerve damage. For example, you may feel that your legs are not straight when they are. When you’re sitting up, you might feel like you’re leaning over. You might feel like your body, below your neck, is almost like a floating balloon, or you might feel limbs moving when they are not. New feelings like this can no doubt add to your grief and worry.
Remember, the grief that you feel is a normal and healthy reaction for an accident victim who recently suffered a quadriplegic spinal cord injury. You may feel psychological symptoms such as:
- the lack of appetite
- a lack of sleep
- sadness, depression, anxiety, worry
- you may withdraw from your friends and family
- you may feel a lack of privacy
- uncertainty about your future
- changes in your body image
- feelings of helplessness, disbelief, panic
- fatigue, lethargy and loneliness
All of these feelings are normal – and no one will ever tell you that quadriplegia is not a truly devastating injury with profound consequences. But remember, at some point, you will more likely than not want to make adjustments and bounce back. Most quadriplegic accident victims effectively learn to deal with the changes caused by their spinal cord injuries,s and with practice and experience, life and daily activities become more manageable and less scary.
The important thing is if you have suffered a catastrophic quadriplegic spinal cord injury. That injury was caused by another person, vehicle, or company – do not wait to speak to an experienced injury lawyer. Many people make the mistake of waiting to speak to a lawyer when, in fact, this can make things worse. Your insurance company will put in place the people they want when you and your lawyer have the full right to hire your team to help you get discharged to a rehabilitation centre (such as the Hamilton Rehabilitation Centre) and then eventually home.
Remember, hiring the right people to take care of you for the rest of your life may cost millions of dollars. It’s important that you start early and have your lawyer put the proper funding in place through the insurance companies and rehab centers with experienced and knowledgeable occupational therapists who will work with you and your family now – and long into the future.
What is a Quadriplegic Spinal Cord Injury, and how does it happen?
Quadriplegic injury results from injury to one of the eight cervical segments. Unlike paraplegia, where paralysis involves the lower extremities only, quadriplegia involves paralysis of all four limbs and the torso. Quadriplegic injury above C4 may, at times, require ventilator assistance or an electrical implant for a person to breathe since the diaphragm is controlled by the spinal nerves of the upper area of the neck.
Typically, the severity of damage to a person’s spinal cord, in addition to its location, will dictate how much paralysis a person will experience. When the spinal cord is injured in the cervical areas, all areas of the body below the level of lesion (injury) may be affected. A quadriplegic injury can be accompanied by the loss of physical feeling, breathing issues, the inability to regulate body temperature properly, bladder and bowel dysfunction, and sexual dysfunction.
Quadriplegic spinal cord injuries will be classified as complete or incomplete. With a complete quadriplegic injury, there is a total disruption of communication between the brain and the rest of the body at the level of cervical damage. No messages can be relayed up or down the spinal cord below the point injury or to the rest of the body, so all voluntary movement and sensation below that cervical level is eliminated. When a spinal cord injury is incomplete, some exchange of information is still possible between the brain and various parts of the body through the spinal cord.
A quadriplegic injury can happen to anyone or old, male or female, of any race, religion, or socioeconomic status. They are often caused by motor vehicles (car accidents, trucking accidents, motorcycle and pedestrian accidents) or diving accidents. Still, they can also result from medical conditions such as tumours or infections, gunshot wounds, falls, or freak accidents.
Apart from trauma-related accidents, quadriplegia can be caused by tumours, ischemia (impression of spinal blood vessels), developmental disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, demyelinating diseases, and vascular malformation. Trauma to the spinal cord usually causes significant shifting of the vertebrae, which then pinch or crush the spinal cord within. This is what typically results when bones in the back are broken, or ligaments are torn in a car crash. Torn fragments of bone or disc may then enter the bony canal where the spinal cord sits and also directly injure by bruising, tearing, or cutting its nervous tissue.
In other cases, such as falls, the spinal cord may only be bruised and no bones broken, yet the resultant tant swelling is enough to damage the tissue seriously. Trauma-induced bleeding into the spinal cord, such as may occur with stab wounds, is yet another way that the cord’s message-carrying ability can be disrupted.
How do Quadriplegic Injuries actually happen?
Remember, your spinal cord extends as one long continuous structure from the base of your skull to your lower back (L1), where it then tapers off into a fibrous-like band, which is called the Conus Medullaris. Your spinal cord is protected by your vertebral column, which consists of stacked bones that extend from your head to the pelvis. Your vertebral column is made up of 33 stacked bony “rings” that are separated by spongy discs, which are analogous to “shock absorbers” and allow you flexibility, while your bones provide stability and protection for the spinal cord that is suspended within it.
The spinal cord is a delicate structure which resembles a cable (about the thickness of your little finger) and is approximately 52 cm long. It begins at the base of the brain and runs down the length of the back, ending behind the 1st lumbar vertebra.
A spinal cord injury occurs when the spinal cord is damaged following major trauma to the spinal cord from a variety of causes. In the majority of cases, the cord is crushed, destroying nerve cells and nerve tracts or pathways at that specific level within the cord. The level of injury is the exact point in the spinal cord at which damage has occurred. The levels are determined by counting the nerves from the top of the neck downwards, and these nerves are grouped into four different areas: Cervical, Thoracic, Lumbar and Sacral.
A quadriplegic injury is when a person suffers damage to his or her spinal cord in the cervical (neck area) and causes a complete or partial loss of motor and sensory function in the arms and legs, as well as part or all of his or her torso. The higher the level of injury, the greater the paralysis and loss of body functions. Your spinal cord does not have to be completely severed – but damaged.
When your spinal cord is damaged, your motor and sensory pathways are interrupted. Your motor carries information from the brain downwards to initiate movement and control body functions. Any damage to the motor nerve pathways within the spinal cord will result in the brain being unable to initiate movement and control within the body below the damaged site. This is known as paralysis. Your sensory nerve pathways carry sensory information from the body upwards to the brain, such as touch, skin temperature and pain. This is coloured blue in the diagram. If the sensory nerve pathways are also damaged, then the brain cannot feel the body below the damaged area.
Living with a Quadriplegic Spinal Cord Injury
No matter what their degree of function, life is far from over for those who have experienced quadriplegic spinal cord injury. An individual who experiences this trauma is still somebody’s son or daughter, mother or father, friend or lover, colleague or coworker. Paralysis does not remove these special relationships or roles, but it can change them and add numerous challenges to a person’s day-to-day existence.
Without talking like lawyers, and rather real people, we can try to say that it is your future at this point fully, that is important. Suppose the negligence of another person, driver, or company caused your quadriplegic spinal cord injury. In that case, you will have the right to claim damages to help care for your health and rehabilitation as you age with quadriplegia. To effectively and accurately analyze your needs as you age, our lawyers work with the province’s top life care planners to help systematically organize, evaluate and interpret your realistic life requirements and the funding of those requirements.
Whether you have suffered a quadriplegic spinal cord injury in a motorcycle accident, trucking accident, as a pedestrian, or as a cyclist hit by a car, our lawyers will ensure that the at-fault driver’s insurance company will be paying your anticipated future needs. We will ensure to provide an organized concise plan for your current and future needs, with associated costs. While working with a multidisciplinary team, we will ensure that your chronic healthcare needs are funded and taken care of over time.
Because of the complexity of the medical issues involved in spinal cord injury cases, particularly quadriplegia cases, your knees will be quite wide-ranging and perhaps cost tens of millions of dollars, depending on your age. Along with identifying the associated costs involved in your long-term care, our life care planners will work with our accountants to help quantify and objectively evaluate the costs of your current and financial needs resulting from the onset of injury and throughout your life.
If you or a loved one has suffered from a quadriplegic injury, our Quadriplegia injury lawyers can help.
Matt Lalande has been representing victims who have suffered terrible and devastating life-changing injuries since 2003. Remember, suffering the onset of a quadriplegic spinal cord injury does not mean your life is over. It just means that you have to, at some point, adapt to living the rest of your life more carefully and cautiously. Although no two quadriplegia cases are the same, the overriding message does not change. You must contact a lawyer sooner rather than later. Our lawyers work with the province’s top occupational therapist, who can assist with your immediate funding, discharge, care and all other associated costs required with your injury.
You will undoubtedly experience a significant lifestyle change that requires patience and resolve. We also work with the province’s top psychologists who routinely assist spinal cord injury victims to help them through periods of grief, through to acceptance, and eventually – determination and will.
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)