Quadriplegia is one of the most serious conditions you can suffer from after an accident. It can impact all aspects of your life and requires significant resources, special equipment, and therapies. Learn more about quadriplegia, what accidents can cause it, and what your rights are if you suffer from a catastrophic injury.
What Is Quadriplegia?
Quadriplegia is a type of paralysis that occurs as a result of a spinal cord injury, affecting mobility from the neck down. Complete or total quadriplegia occurs when you experience total loss of muscular control in your legs and arms. With this condition, you don’t have control over automatic functions.
Those with incomplete or partial quadriplegia experience weakness but not total paralysis in the arms and legs. You may still feel sensations in your extremities and might be able to control automatic bodily functions like breathing.
The most common cause of quadriplegia is spinal cord injuries in the cervical (neck) region. Your spine is a long and complex structure divided into many sections. The cervical section at the top comprises seven interlocking bone segments and eight spinal nerves. The exact area where the injury occurs dictates whether you suffer complete or partial paralysis.
Quadriplegia in newborns is typically a result of cerebral palsy, which occurs when there is damage to the brain while in utero or during labor. Newborns’ limbs can be spastic, meaning they have uncontrollable spasms in their arms and legs. However, their limbs can also be flaccid, which causes their limbs to lose their tone and atrophy.
What Accidents Can Cause Quadriplegia?
Severe physical trauma to the spinal cord is the root cause of quadriplegia. There are a number of accidents that can cause this condition.
Vehicular Collisions
Motor vehicle accidents are the most common causes of injuries that lead to quadriplegia. In fact, car accidents cause 31.5% of all spinal cord injuries.
If a vehicle hits you, the force of the collision can damage the vertebrae in your spine, especially if you’re rapidly shaken. High-speed car accidents are more likely to result in these kinds of catastrophic injuries.
You also have a higher risk of damaging the cervical region of your spine if you’re thrown from the vehicle during the collision.
Struck-By Accidents
Being struck by an object can also result in quadriplegia. This type of accident is a major concern for construction workers, who handle heavy machinery and work in areas where they can be struck by falling materials. A blow to the head can damage the cervical spine in an instant.
Falls
Falling can also result in trauma severe enough to cause paralysis. Construction workers can fall from upper-level floors and hit their heads. Even those who fall down relatively short stairs could suffer spinal cord injuries.
Birth Injuries
If a medical professional applies too much force during labor to deliver a baby or doesn’t properly use assistive devices like vacuum extractors, the baby can suffer injuries to the head. These can lead to cerebral palsy, which might result in quadriplegia.
How Can a Quadriplegia Injury Lawyer Help With a Legal Claim?
If someone else’s negligence or wrongful conduct led you or a loved one to suffer a spinal cord injury that resulted in quadriplegia, you can file a personal injury claim. To do so, you need to hire an experienced lawyer to advocate for your case.
One of the most important aspects of these claims is establishing liability. That usually requires proving that negligence occurred. To accomplish this, you need to show that the defendant owed you a duty of care and that they breached it.
For example, if a driver ran a red light and hit your vehicle, you can immediately show that they owed you a duty of care. That’s because all drivers have a responsibility toward others to drive safely and obey all traffic laws. Someone who speeds through a red light is breaking the law and breaching their duty of care.
The next thing you have to prove is that the defendant’s actions caused the accident that led to your injuries and that you can be compensated for what you’ve suffered. In the above example, running a red light can result in a collision that causes a spinal cord injury, which can lead to quadriplegia. Because this type of injury is catastrophic and will require ongoing medical care, the victim can file a claim.
None of this is easy to establish if you don’t have legal representation. A lawyer can allow you to focus on getting treatment for your injuries while they manage the legal process of filing a claim.
Another vital reason to have a lawyer helping you is that they have experience negotiating with insurance companies. Insurers will do everything possible to keep from paying you what you deserve after such a devastating injury, so working with a lawyer gives you a better chance of getting fair compensation.
If negotiations don’t go as planned, your lawyer can also take your case to court, which you should never attempt on your own.
What Damages Can You Recover in a Quadriplegia Injury Case?
Filing a personal injury claim allows you to get economic and non-economic damages. These are compensatory damages that strive to cover the losses you sustained.
Economic damages focus on your financial losses due to the accident. Medical expenses make up a large portion of that loss.
You can receive compensation to cover the following:
- Hospital bills
- Rehabilitation therapy
- Medications
- Assistive devices
Economic damages also compensate you for lost wages. With serious conditions like quadriplegia, it may be impossible to return to work or perform as expected, so you can receive damages for loss of earning potential, too.
Non-economic damages compensate you for losses that aren’t financial, including pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life. You can also claim loss of consortium if a loved one dies as a result of an accident. Loss of consortium compensates you for the loss of support and companionship.
Contact Our Experienced Miami Personal Injury Lawyers To Discuss Your Quadriplegia Claim
A spinal cord injury that results in quadriplegia can leave you unable to live your life as you’d like. If the injury was the result of an accident that someone else caused, you may be entitled to file a claim for compensation.
At Shaked Law Personal Injury Lawyers, our team of Florida attorneys has decades of experience helping people who’ve suffered injuries after accidents, particularly those who suffer from serious conditions like spinal cord injuries and quadriplegia. You don’t have to go through this process alone. Schedule a free consultation with our Miami personal injury attorneys to learn more about your options.