Sadly, the thing people remember most about actor, Christopher Reeve is that he was seriously hurt during a horse-riding accident and suffered a spinal cord injury that caused him to become paralyzed from the neck down. That tragic injury ultimately took his life.
However, there are countless other spinal cord injuries that do not cause that devastating a result, but may cause severe impairment nonetheless. In fact, if you suffer a disc herniation, slipped disc or ruptured disc from an accident, you probably will not end up in a wheel chair, but you certainly could end up in chronic pain. That pain could interfere with your being able to support yourself and your family, and could limit your physical abilities for the rest of your life.
A spinal cord injury can happen if you are involved in a minor or a serious car accident. You can injure your spinal cord if you are a construction worker and merely fall at the site; or if you trip and fall on faulty pavement. If you suffer a spinal cord injury, the damage may not show up on an x-ray. In fact, many times you will need an MRI or CAT scan to see the extent of the damage. That is called a soft tissue injury, and insurance carriers will fight those claims, regardless of the intense pain you are in or the amount of herniations that may be present in your diagnostic tests.
Insurance carriers will seek to prove that you already had that disc herniation or ruptured disc. They will undoubtedly have one of their own physicians write reports and even testify that your condition is a result of aging and not a result of your being the victim of negligence.
That means you need to be prepared. First, seek out an experienced personal injury attorney with an extensive knowledge of these soft tissue injuries who can fight the insurance carrier point by point. He or she will know how to navigate this complicated area of the law.
A good attorney will have a working knowledge of spinal cord injuries, and will know how to gather the medical evidence and present it in order to prove your case.
If you suffer a spinal cord injury due to the negligence of others, you may be entitled to compensation. But you will need professional legal representation to get what you deserve.
