Spinal Cord Injury is damage to the spinal cord affecting mobility and feeling. These are injuries which are normally the result of very violent accidents such as high-speed road traffic accidents involving colliding cars or, perhaps, pedestrians being struck down by motor vehicles. The potential for this type of injury is wide, however, and it may occur in many different circumstances. Spinal chord injury may also be the result of diseases such as polio and spina bifida.
It is not always the case, however, that serious injury to the back results in spinal chord injury. Accidents do take place where there may be a broken back and next to no damage to the spinal cord. That is because although the bones around the spinal cord, the vertebrae, may be broken, the spinal cord may remain intact. Although there may be initial loss of function, full function may return after the vertebrae are stabilised.
The spinal cord is actually a set of nerves which carries messages from the brain to the rest of the body. Sometimes, following major accidents, although the spinal cord is not broken, it may damaged and there may be a consequent loss of function amounting to partial paralysis.
The effects of spinal chord injury depend on the type and level of injury. It can be divided into two types of injury. These are 'complete' and 'incomplete'. In a complete injury there is no sensation and no movement below the level of the injury and both sides of the body are equally affected. Where there is incomplete injury it may be possible to move limbs on one side of the body but not the other and there may be some sensation in parts of the body.
Injuries to the spinal cord at the level of the vertebrae in the neck often results in quadriplegia. Injuries at the level of the chest may cause paraplegia and, of course, there are a whole range of ways, short of either of those two conditions, in which mobility and function may be affected.
Quite apart from a loss of sensation or function, spinal chord injury could cause other changes also. For example, there may be dysfunction of the bowel and bladder. Sexual functioning may be affected and men with spinal chord injury may have their fertility affected. High-level spinal chord injury may affect the ability to breathe, requiring ventilators and pacemakers to be used.
Unfortunately,
there is currently no cure for spinal cord injuries. There are certain experimental drugs undergoing tests presently but, at this stage, they appear to be able to achieve nothing more than a reduction in swelling and a limited reduction in loss of function.
Compensation
Claims following accidents resulting in spinal
chord injury attract a very wide range of
settlement awards depending, of course, on the level of
injury sustained and it's effects on the individual.
Greater loss of sensation and loss of movement following
an accident will result in a higher compensation award.
Compensation claims for injuries resulting in
quadriplegia may range from about £165000 right up to
£205,000. Similarly, claims involving paraplegia may
attract compensation awards of between £115,000 and
£145,000. It should always be remembered that these
figures are guidelines only and the level of award in
each individual case will depend upon the circumstance
of the accident, the injuries sustained and the
expected period of resolution of the
injuries and the effect on the particular
individual.
If you claim through Accident
Aid, your claim will be handled by an experienced
accidents / personal injury lawyer member of the
Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. Accident Aid and
the lawyers with whom we work will ensure that your
compensation claim is dealt with as quickly and
efficiently as possible and you receive your
compensation award in full. You will not have to pay
anything for your accident claim whether you win or lose
your claim for compensation and there will be no
deductions from any compensation award in your favour.
To make a claim either call
Accident Aid on 0800 180 4780 or forward your query
without any obligation to Accident Aid by email and you
will be contacted by an accident injury lawyer who will
advise as to whether you may be entitled to claim
compensation for your injury and any other losses you
may have sustained.
