Spinal Cord Injuries in Florida

South Florida Personal Injury Attorneys for Spinal Cord injuries

The personal injury attorneys at Levine and Glassman, P.A., help men, women and children injured by the negligence of another that either causes or exacerbate spinal cord injuries. Medical malpractice or other types of personal injury claims that result from complex neurological disorders require the services of attorneys experienced with these conditions. Our attorneys are experienced in cases involving paraplegia, quadriplegia, hemiparesis and spinal cord contusions.

Call the attorneys at Levine and Glassman to discuss any spinal cord injury. No matter how severe the injury, call our lawyers for immediate case evaluation, analysis and representation. Our attorneys have represented victims of spinal cord injury malpractice cases throughout Florida, including the Miami / Ft. Lauderdale areas of South Florida for Broward County, Miami-Dade County, and Palm Beach County, and throughout the State of Florida.

Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI)

Many spinal cord injuries involve damage to the nerves within the bony protections of the spinal canal. Often, damage to the spinal cord results in paralysis. Spinal cord injuries are most commonly causes by the following:

1. Work related accidents at 28%;
2. Motor vehicle accidents at 24%;
3. Sports or recreational accidents including shallow water driving at 16%;
4. Falls at 9%;
5. Unknown at 9%;
6. Other at 6%;
7. Acts of violence at 4%; and
8. Birth defect at 3%.

Spinal cord injuries can also result from various diseases present at birth or acquired later in life. Other spinal cord injuries results from tumors or electric shock. Also, accidents resulting in the loss of oxygen related to surgical or underwater mishaps can cause spinal cord injuries.

How Spinal Cord Injuries Occur 

It is not necessary for the spinal cord to be severed in order for symptoms to appear. Injuries can occur when the spinal cord is crushed, stretched or bruised. Injury to the spinal cord impacts both sensation and movement. Spinal cord injuries interfere with the body's ability to send and receive messages from the brain to the body systems that control autonomic, motor and sensory functions.

The Cost of a Spinal Cord Injury Can Be Astronomical

A spinal cord injury and paralysis is a life altering event which causes tremendous finanical stress. Those expenses can include: 

• medical expenses;
• hospital bills;
• attendant care;
• medical equipment;
• specialized supplies and medicine; and
• funding for emerging adaptive technologies.

According to statistics furnished by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the University of Alabama National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, the costs of spinal cord injuries can be astronomical and vary greatly depending on the severity of the injury.

The most common type of spinal cord injuries that involve the spinal cord being partically severed include:

1. incomplete quadriplegia at 31.2%;
2. complete paraplegia at 28.2%;
3. incomplete paraplegia at 23.1%; and
4. complete quadriplegia at 17.5%.

Average Yearly Expenses after a Spinal Cord Injury

Expenes over a lifetime depend on a number of factors including the age of the person injured and his life expectancy. The estimated lifetime costs depend on the type of injury, but generally, for a 25 year old who suffers a high quadriplegia at C1-C4, the expected lifetime expense is in excess of three million dollars. A fifty year old who suffers a low quadriplegia at C5-C8 might expect lifetime expenses to exceed one million dollars.

Compensation for the Spouse

Under Florida law, even the husband or wife of the person suffering from a spinal cord injury may be entitled to compensation for loss of consortium, loss of intimacy, and loss of household services. Often the roles within the household change so that one partner becomes a caregiver. In many cases, the spouse also suffers tremendous damages that deserve compensation. 

Working with Spinal Cord Injury Expert Witnesses

Our attorneys understand the importance of working with the best vocational rehabilitation specialists, life care planning experts, neurosurgeons, neurologiests, and neuroradiologists. In many of these cases, expert testimony is central to each issue in the case. Our attorneys are experienced in finding the most qualified expert witnesses on spinal cord injuries. 

Types of Spinal Cord Injuries

The treating physician's first job is to determine whether a pattern of symptoms consistent with neurological problems involve one of the following incomplete spinal cord syndromes:

• Cauda Equina Syndrome (CES): Emergency condition which requires quick action by the treating physician to diagnose the condition and schedule emergency surgery. Condition causes injury to the lumbosacral nerve roots with symptoms including loss of bladder and bowel control and sensory loss in the saddle area and lower limbs. Cauda equina syndrome is often caused by a large herniated disk in the central lumbar region.

• Conus Medullaris Syndrome (CMS): Results in symptoms caused by the malfunction of the nerves in the conus medullaris located in the lower back at the end of the spinal cord. Conus medullaris syndrome can result in permanent injury to the bladder, bowels, legs and genitals.

• Central Cord Syndrome (CCS) - Results from injury or trauma to the center fo the cervical area of the spinal cord affecting the corticopinal tract. An acute cervical lesion or spinal cord injury involves impairment in the upper extremities, sensory loss below the area of injury, and bladder dysfunction. Patients can spontaneously recover motor function or recovery in the weeks following the injury.

• Anterior Cord Syndrome (ACS) - Type of incomplete spinal cord injury to the anterior portion of the spinal cord when it suffers from an interruption of blood supply. Anterior cord syndrome causes a loss of motor function and sensation for pain and temperature, but it preserves two point sensory discrimination or proprioception.

• Brown-Séquard Syndrome (BSS): Spinal injury involving incomplete or partial lesion to either the right or left side of the spinal cord. Because of the crossing of the pathways in the spinal cord, symptoms are characterized by motor loss and numbness to touch on one side of the injury and the loss of temperature and pain sensation on the other side of the injury. Also known as Brown-Sequard's Hemiplegia or Brown-Sequard's Paralysis.

• Spinal Contusions - Injury results in bruising of spinal cord causing bleeding from blood vessels near the injury site, although the spinal cord is not severed. This is the most common spinal cord injury; the symptoms are often temporary complete or incomplete debilitation of the spinal cord.
  

Important Statistics on Spinal Cord Injuries

• More than 11,000 spinal cord injuries occur each year.

• More than 80% of individuals with spinal cord injuries are male.

• More than 56% of spinal cord injuries occur between the age of 16 and 30.

Medical Malpractice and Personal Injury Attorneys for Spinal Cord Injuries

When the negligence of another contributes to your damages from any spinal cord injury, contact the attorneys at Levine and Glassman, P.A. Our experience representing men, women and children with serious spinal cord injuries provides us with the skills necessary to pursue these complicated cases.

Our attorneys represent victims of spinal cord injury and other catastrophic injuries throughout Florida, including the Miami / Ft. Lauderdale areas of South Florida for Miami-Dade County, Broward County, Palm Beach County and the Florida Keys.

Spinal Cord Trauma Information Center

National Spinal Cord Injury Association - The largest and oldest civilian organization focused on helping men, women and children living with spinal cord diseases and injuries. The National Spinal Cord Injury Association raises awareness about spinal cord injury and disease through education and community outreach about supportive services, rehabilitative, medical, research and public policy formulation. Find out more information on spinal cord injury statistics, symptoms, levels, recovery, and rehabilitation

Spinal Cord Injury Facts and Statistics- Find our more about recent studies and statistics on spinal cord injuries.

Spinal Cord Injury Information Network - UAB Spinal Cord Injury Model System (UAB-SCIMS) is one of 14 national Spinal Cord Injury Model Systems Centers funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Organization works to improve and maintain a comprehensive and cost-effective service delivery system for individuals with a spinal cord injury. A Model System is designed to deliver care to people with spinal cord injury for emergency medical services, acute care in the hospital, and rehabilitation.

Christopher and Dana Reeve Spinal Cord and Paralysis Foundation - The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation is devoted to curing spinal cord injury by funding innovative research and improving the quality of life for people living with paralysis through information, advocacy, and grants. The website contains a wealth of information on stories, statistics, medical treatments and more.

Florida's Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program - Read more on the Florida Department of Health's Brain and Spinal Cord Injury Program (BSCIP). The BSCIP is a publicly funded program for Florida residences suffering from a moderate to severe spinal court or traumatic brain injury. Participants must be medically stable enough to receive services and referred to the BSCIP Central Registry. The BSCIP provides acute care, outpatient and inpatient rehabilitation, assistive technology, nursing home transition facilitation, and transitional living services.