Spinal Cord Injuries in Children

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normal chest of infant

The spinal cord is much like the main wiring system in a house. If the fuse box is broken, wiring can’t do its job. The brain is much like the fuse box. The nerves are like the wires coming from the fuse box to the appliances in the house. When the spinal cord is injured, it can result in life changing consequences.

There are three kinds of nerves: motor, sensory and autonomic. The autonomic nerves are like your heart, nervous system, where you have a signal that does from brain to heart, similar to breathing. Motor nerve allows you to move. Sensory nerves allow you to feel or touch. Any or all of these nerves can be damaged by a myriad of wrongs by a negligent heath care provider.

Since the main wiring box is the brain, the major nerve bundles that leave the brain are exquisitely sensitive to injury and will likely result in the most devastating global injuries, if they arise out of harm done to the brain stem or the cervical spine (neck).

A surgeon can traumatize a nerve during surgery inadvertently, such as nicking or lacerating the cord unintentionally when cutting some other structure. They can even traumatize a nerve by hand by pulling, which can happen a lot in birth injury cases during difficult vaginal deliveries when newborns suffer brachial plexus injury. The nerve that comes off the cervical spine can be stretched, or it can be an avulsion injury whereby the nerve is literally torn off the spinal cord. Other times, a spinal injury is caused by too much traction, which can be done by a forceps or a doctor leaning his elbow against a patient’s extremity. Injury can also occur when poorly positioning the patient under anesthesia; the nerve is compressed unintentionally.

Sometimes those nerves can be regenerated, there are a handful of surgeons that are capable of such surgery, but it is not always successful.

Depending on the location of the spinal injury to the nerve, it will dictate what part of the body is affected. If there is an injury to the top of the neck, it can affect the entire body so that a patient may be rendered quad, or it could only affect the arms and hands. If the injury is in the low back or lumbar spine, most likely that patient will suffer an injury to the legs and possibly harm the neurogenic bowel and bladder. Patients that suffer neurogenic bowel and bladder disorders have frequent, severe problems with their quality of life. Many must wear colposcopy bags and suffer the indignity.

Most of the time, spinal cord injuries are a life sentence. On occasion, recovery is made. If so, generally it is made early on.

Depending on the age, the younger a child is, the more difficult it is for them to cope with a neurologic injury. If they never knew how to coordinate parts of their body, it becomes a herculean task to train a person to learn that which they never knew. Kids are very resilient; kids make every effort to do well with whatever hand they have been dealt in life.

Any person who sustains a spinal cord injury (SCI) may lose some quality and length of life. SCIs are particularly devastating to children since they have so much life ahead of them and their bodies are still developing. When children suffer from a spinal injury, they often accumulate enormous medical bills and require around-the-clock special care.

Our attorneys want to ensure that children with SCIs have the opportunity to live as fulfilling and independent lives as possible. While we cannot repair damage to a child’s spinal cord, we can give a child access to all the best medical care and make sure that child’s parents have the resources to take care of him or her.

Our Attorneys Support Children with Spinal Cord Injuries

Attorney Richard M. Shapiro, the founder of our firm, was raised in a family of prominent medical professionals, and he has spent his whole life involved with the medical community. Richard worked as a research assistant for his father, who worked at a Yale university research hospital. This background gives him a deep understanding of medicine and the needs of people with catastrophic injuries and serious medical conditions.

When our attorneys approach a case involving a child who suffered an SCI due to medical malpractice, a car crash or any other incident, they can reasonably predict the long-term costs for that child. They can estimate the medical costs this injury will create over the child’s lifetime and seek compensation for these anticipated expenses.

The spinal cord injury lawyers are tasked with the burden of having to estimate the long term costs of that child. they rely on many experts, including the treating doctors, life care planners, economists, and other experts in order to calculate the costs over a child’s life expectancy.

What Can I Do About My Child’s Spinal Injury?

The challenges of being a child with this injury cannot be understated. Though it is impossible to assign a value to the mental and emotional difficulties associated of life with a spinal cord injury, victims should receive compensation for the pain and suffering they endure because of these severe injuries.

Lawyers Who Do Not get Paid Unless You Get Paid

Our Tampa Bay personal injury lawyers are highly skilled litigators who support injury victims. We eliminate financial risks to injury victims by working on a contingency fee basis; we reduce your financial burdens and avoid the financial risks by working on a contingent fee basis. A contingency fees is earned by the lawyer ONLY if they are successful. In that circumstance, the lawyers will receive a percentage of the award or settlement, should somehow the case conclude unsuccessfully, you will not be responsible to pay anything. An initial consultation is free. Call our attorneys to talk about your potential case.

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