Traumatic spinal cord injuries are devastating, life-changing injuries which have a profound impact on a victim’s physical and psychosocial well-being. Psychologically, a spinal cord injury is possibly the most disruptive and traumatic event that can occur in anyone’s life. Experiencing a SCI poses a massive challenge which requires adaptation and resilience to cope in order to develop strengths and discover new ways of doing things, not only physically, socially and vocationally, but also emotionally. Most spinal cord injury victims will develop severe negative emotions in response to the injury, which could threaten both psychological and social integration.
Traumatic spinal cord injury victims may suffer quadriplegia or paraplegia depending on the level of injury affecting the functioning of limbs, trunk, pelvic organs, bladder and bowel, as well as sexual function. This loss of function leads to significant changes in the life of the affected individual, making routine vocational, social, sexual and recreational activities impossible. Although some individuals do recover partial capacity to perform certain activities of daily living through rehabilitation, many activities are permanently altered – and life is changed forever in an instant. These injuries, combined, can result in various levels of paralysis, leaving a spinal cord injury victim in need of lifelong treatment.
If you were injured by the fault of another person or company, it is critical to pursue financial compensation to assist with your expected lifelong needs. The lifetime of care that you will require can cost millions of dollars, placing extreme financial burdens on you and your loved ones. It is crucial that you hire an experienced Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyer who will put together a team of occupational therapists and life care planners to determine and project your lifelong requirements and ensure that what you need to assist you for life is paid to you by the insurance company of person or company that hurt you.
Our Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyers will hire the best team of experts who will advocate for your protection and well-being and ensure that from the start, a comprehensive life care assessment is created to provide an organized, concise plan for your current and future needs, with associated costs.
How our Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyers can help you and your family from start to finish.
Spinal cord injuries are debilitating and lifelong injuries that have serious impacts on the injured person and his or her family. Not only does a person have to deal with the dramatic changes in his or her life, from a physical and psychological perspective, but also with significant costs that will be incurred throughout his or her life, such as costs dealing with acute rehabilitation, home and vehicle modifications and recurring costs for various medical requirements such as equipment, supplies, medication and personal assistance.
If you do not have an experienced spinal cord injury lawyer to advocate for you, the insurance companies involved, either your own insurance company or that of the at-fault driver (or both), will hire their preferred providers right from the start – when in fact you have the absolute right to retain your own medical and health advocates to assist with your community reintegration and who will be by your side and advocate for you for many, many years.
Our Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyers work with some of Hamilton’s best providers.
Our spinal cord injury lawyers and Hamilton are experienced and work with some of Hamilton’s best occupational therapists, case managers and life care planners who could assist you not only presently but for the remainder of your life. Our experts will ensure, under our instruction, that you are provided with the most and absolute best requirements that both you and your family need.
Over 80% of spinal cord injury victims are discharged home at one point or another, and it’s important that you have your home modified and comfortable for your needs and requirements. For example, spinal cord injury victims often require homes to undergo door widening, ramp installation, and bathroom remodelling. If this isn’t possible, then perhaps a new home will be needed to accommodate you. All of this is vital to successful discharge planning and social reintegration.
Vehicle modifications, depending on attended driving, are expensive, depending on the modifications needed in the type of vehicle modified.
Our Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyers ensure that all projected evaluations of the cost you need to pay over your life expectancy are considered. We will ensure that your long-term needs are identified and associated costs are compiled and documented, providing a solid basis for calculating your economic damages. Evaluations that we will look at may include (but are not limited to)such things as –
- physiotherapy
- Psychological therapy
- wheelchair cost and replacement (including Summer and snow wheelchairs, battery replacement, wheelchair cushion covers, etc.)
- Recreational therapy assistance
- rehabilitation therapy
- nutritional therapy
- orthotics
- power bed
- portable ramps
- speech therapy and vocational rehabilitation.
- family counselling and education
- career guidance and counselling,
- supplies for ADLs
- supplies for bowel and bladder
- skin supplies
- routine pharmaceuticals, and much more.
Besides my necessities of daily living, what about my work? What will happen with my work or career?
Many quadriplegics and paraplegics lead full, busy lives, including working full- or part-time. Many advances in bladder management after a spinal cord injury have been made in recent years, which allow an SCI victim to return to a full and productive work life. For others, however, returning to work after a spinal cord injury involves many challenges. Unemployment remains a prevalent and serious problem for persons with SCI, which is especially disturbing in light of evidence that vocational outcomes affect both quality of life and longevity.
Returning to work can be a challenge, and if you are unable to resume work (no matter if you are a tradesman or a surgeon), you will need to hire the experience of a spinal cord injury lawyer and Hamilton to assist in quantifying your wage loss is presently and into the future, until your anticipated and statistical retirement age. For many people who suffer a spinal cord injury, the inability to work often means becoming unable to support themselves or their family and can lead to a major decline in socioeconomic status.
Our Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyers will ensure that you are protected financially, we forecast your appropriate lost earning data based in your pre-injury career path and ensure that you are paid the economic compensation that you deserve.
In short, if you cannot return to work or start the career path you had planned, we will seek your lost wages until your projected retirement date.
Pain and Suffering Compensation
There’s no doubt that many spinal cord injury victims who suffered damage to the spinal cord and central nervous system often suffer from excruciating, unrelenting chronic pain that, in large part, is resistant to treatment. Spinal cord injury is devastating and leads to catastrophic consequences such as the inability to move and walk, loss of sexual function, and diminished ability to control bladder or bowel function in the development of debilitating pain.
Studies have shown that the prevail in some pain is alarmingly high – up to 60 to 80% of spinal cord injury victims experience pain, with at least a third of the patients reporting severe pain. Our Hamilton spinal cord injury lawyers will ensure that you are compensated fully for your pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life and loss of amenities – presently and into the future.
Matt Lalande has helped spinal cord injury victims in Ontario since 2003, and it’s quite easy to get a hold of us.
Since 2003, Matt Lalande has been representing spinal cord injury victims who have suffered complete or incomplete paraplegia or quadriplegia. Our firm is experienced and familiar with catastrophic spinal cord injury claims. It can ensure that both your own insurance company and the insurance company at fault provide you with the compensation you deserve. We will ensure that your future needs are fully projected to provide you with economic security. While money can never replace the pain, suffering and loss caused by your loved one’s spinal injury, it can certainly ease the financial burden of present and future medical costs and other damages associated with the loss of spine function or the pain of spinal injury-related conditions.
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.