Spinal Cord Injury Attorney in San Diego, CA
Spinal cord injuries are catastrophic. Unlike other body tissues, the spinal cord can’t grow back once injured. Moreover, it controls critical functions such as limb movement, which may be gone forever when the spinal cord gets injured.
Spinal cord injury victims often remain with lifelong disabilities ranging from mobility issues to permanent paralysis from the neck down. The impacts on victims and their loved ones are emotionally, physically, and financially devastating. You may be entitled to compensation if the spinal cord injury was caused by someone else’s negligence.
The San Diego spinal cord injury attorneys at Rawlins Law are committed to protecting your rights and ensuring you get compensated for your injury. We have years of experience helping spinal cord victims in California obtain fair compensation and justice for their losses and damages. Let us assess your case and determine the best course of action.
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San Diego Spinal Cord Injury Guide
- Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries
- Types of Spinal Cord Injuries
- How a Spinal Cord Injury Can Affect Your Life
- What to Do After Suffering a Spinal Cord Injury
- Compensation for Spinal Cord Injuries in San Diego
- How to Claim Compensation for Your Injury
- FAQs
- Contact Our San Diego Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer
Why Choose Us?
If you’ve sustained an SCI in an accident or attack, Rawlins Law in San Diego can help you claim compensation for your losses and damages. For starters, we will assess your claim’s viability on your behalf before filing a compensation claim with the at-fault party’s insurer. We can also negotiate with insurance adjusters on your behalf, knowing too well that they tend to make ridiculously low offers.
If push comes to shove, we can file a compensation lawsuit on your behalf. We have an impressive track record of recoveries because we build our cases with lawsuits in mind. Our team of formidable litigators is led by Ashley Rawlins, an attorney dedicated to helping spinal cord injury victims in the San Diego Metropolitan Area access justice.
What Are the Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries?
Spinal cord injuries are primarily caused by:
Car Accidents
Over 30 percent of spinal cord injuries are caused by motor vehicle accidents. When vehicles collide, roll, or knock over someone, there’s a high chance of the drivers, passengers, or pedestrians suffering spinal cord injuries.
Slip and Fall Accidents
As people age, their bones become more brittle, necessitating using walking canes to maintain balance. Moreover, their eyesight begins to wane, making it hard to detect nearby hazards that can cause slip-and-fall accidents. Some premises also have hazards such as wet floors, which could cause anyone to slip and injure their spine.
Sports Injuries
Contact sports such as football and hockey have a high risk of spinal injuries. That’s particularly true if the back area gets targeted by an opposing player.
Illnesses
Some medical conditions like osteoporosis weaken the bones, increasing the chances of sustaining spinal cord injury. When people with such conditions get into slip and fall or car accidents, they’re more likely to suffer a spinal cord injury.
Types of Spinal Cord Injuries
The location of an injury along the spinal column determines the body pay parts that will be affected. Injuries to the upper spinal cord often cause tetraplegia/quadriplegia. Injuries to the middle and lower parts of the spinal column often cause paraplegia or reduced function in the feet and legs.
Common spinal cord injuries include:
Disc Herniation
Spinal discs are the rubbery cushions between the vertebrae. They comprise a tough exterior (annulus) and a soft center (nucleus). Trauma to the spine can tear the annulus, allowing the soft center to push through. The condition is known as disc herniation and is among the most common spinal cord injuries.
Nerve Damage
The spinal column comprises a bundle of nerves that enable communication between the brain and other body organs. Trauma to the back or spine can damage these nerves, causing cervical radiculopathy or a pinched nerve. The condition affects communication between the brain and spinal column, thus hampering mobility and other body functions.
Paralysis
A severe spinal cord injury can cause total or partial paralysis. There are different forms of paralysis, including paraplegia, hemiplegia, triplegia, monoplegia, and tetraplegia. The effects of paralysis can range from lost sensation in the limbs to poor motor control.
Fractured Vertebra
Severe impact on the back or spinal cord can result in a dislocated or fractured vertebra. If left undiagnosed and untreated, the condition can cause paralysis and other complications. Cervical fractures, Chance fractures, and compression fractures are common vertebral fractures.
Torn Tendons/Muscles
SCI can also occur when the tendons and muscles or connective tissues holding the muscles to the bones get torn or stretched. This causes chronic pain and other complications.
How a Spinal Cord Injury Can Affect Your Life
A spinal cord injury can affect nearly all aspects of your life. Activities you previously enjoyed may be impossible to participate in. For instance, if you’re a keen golfer, a severe spinal cord injury may relegate you to a spectator. Moreover, treatment for spinal cord injury is expensive and can easily drain your finances.
Since a spinal cord injury can have life-long impacts on your quality of life, you may need to make changes to accommodate your injury.
A case in point is quadriplegics, who often experience these conditions:
- Impaired digestion.
- Breathing difficulties.
- Loss of sensory and motor control.
- Depression.
Getting compensated for your spinal injury may not revert your previous condition, but it can help you seek the requisite treatment. It may also help you make the adjustment you need to live a relatively comfortable life, your condition notwithstanding.
What to Do After Suffering a Spinal Cord Injury
Thanks to the significant consequences of a traumatic spinal cord injury, it’s best to know the steps to take and prevent the condition from worsening. You may be entitled to compensation if someone else is responsible for your SCI. Our skilled spinal cord injury lawyers in San Diego always advise spinal cord injury victims to do the following to increase the chances of a successful recovery.
Seek Medical Treatment
It’s a no-brainer that treatment prevents your injury from worsening. For this reason, seek treatment as soon as you get injured. You should also collect all medical records on your injuries because they’ll help affirm your compensation claim.
Detail Your Injury
If your spinal injury is accident-related, note all the details you can remember and the effects of your injury on your day-to-day life. If other people witnessed the accident, collect their contact information and have them as your witnesses when filing a claim.
Avoid Negotiating With Insurance Adjusters
The at-fault party’s insurance company will undoubtedly contact you wanting to settle. They know too well that you’re vulnerable and will likely accept any offer they make. However, insurance adjusters don’t work in your best interests, so avoid negotiating with them until you have a spinal cord injury lawyer.
Contact an Attorney
So much will be at stake when you suffer a spinal cord injury. You need an aggressive attorney to defend your rights, negotiate with insurance adjusters, and file a compensation claim or lawsuit on your behalf.
Compensation for Spinal Cord Injuries in San Diego
Spinal cord injuries are severe, and compensation can help cover some of the expenses victims endure. The recoverable damages include:
Loss of Earnings/Reduced Earning Capacity
A spinal cord injury can put you out of work for some time or force you to work for fewer hours. Someone else’s negligence shouldn’t jeopardize your financial future, yet you can recover your lost earnings. The attorneys at Rawlins Law can help evaluate how much of your income you will lose due to your SCI.
We work with vocational experts who can calculate the impacts of spinal cord injury on your career progression and earning capacity. Our commitment is to ensure you maintain the quality of life and financial freedom you had before the injury.
Treatment Costs
Spinal cord injury victims often require extensive and oft-expensive treatment. Besides hospital care, ambulance rides, therapy sessions, and surgical procedures, they may need home care for much of their lives. This could mean hiring full-time attendants, housekeepers, or nurses to help them perform daily tasks they can’t handle themselves.
When filing a compensation claim, we always use medical records and witness statements by life care planners to evaluate the cost of treatment and expected care costs. We take into account all the expenses related to your injury to ensure you receive maximum compensation. Compensation is available for all costs related to your injuries, and we can fight to ensure you get what you deserve.
Pain and Suffering
This is a non-economic damage, but one which we consider when filing our clients’ claims. A spinal cord injury can lead to tremendous pain, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium, and more. With the help of expert witnesses, the attorneys at Rawlins Law can demonstrate how your injury affected your life and ensure you get fully compensated for that.
How to Claim Compensation for Your Injury
California has a pure comparative negligence system. You can still recover damages even if you’re partly at fault for your SCI. In such cases, attorneys for each party work to prove the other party’s negligence and their client’s innocence.
Negligence is proved by showing:
- Duty. The plaintiff must prove that the defendant has a legal duty to avoid the actions that led to the spinal cord injury.
- Breach of Duty. The duty of care fell below the expected standard or wasn’t exercised, leading to the accident and resultant spinal cord injury.
- Causation. The plaintiff must prove that the breach of duty contributed to the accident and injury.
- Damages. Losses and injuries occurred due to the breach of duty.
FAQs
What is the statute of limitations for SCI claims?
Spinal cord injury cases in California are categorized as personal injury cases. They have a two-year statute of limitations from the date of your injury. Bringing your case after this period will see it dismissed.
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A critical aspect in spinal cord injury cases is proving the at-fault party’s negligence. Nonetheless, the attorneys at Rawlins Law have a reputation for building cases that prove the at-fault parties’ negligence.
How long before I get compensation?
Lawsuits for severe injuries like SCI take time, but working with aggressive attorneys ensures a timely settlement.
Contact Our San Diego Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer
If you or a loved one recently suffered a spinal cord injury in San Diego, you’ll undoubtedly consider filing a lawsuit to seek compensation for your losses and damages. Nonetheless, it’s best to work with a skilled spinal injury attorney who can defend your right to compensation and ensure you recover maximum compensation for your injuries.
The team at Rawlins Law Firm understands the struggles spinal cord injury victims undergo. So, don’t go through financial hardships, pain and suffering, and a loss of enjoyment of life when we can help you get compensated. When you’re unable to work and support your loved ones or cover your mounting medical bills, you can count on us to secure the compensation you deserve.
Living with a spinal cord injury is challenging, so let the attorneys at Rawlins Law represent you and defend your rights. We work on contingency bases and won’t charge you until you get compensated. Contact us at (858) 529-5872 to discuss your case with our attorneys.
