Kansas City Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys

What Are the Different Types of Spinal Cord Injury?

There are two main types of spinal cord injuries: complete and incomplete injuries. While you may suffer from permanent damage, paraplegia, and tetraplegia in a complete spinal cord injury, the result is not the same in an incomplete injury. You suffer from partial damage in an incomplete injury, and may be able to move and feel to a certain extent.

Medical professionals further categorize your spinal cord injury based on what body parts the injury impacts.

• If you have a cervical spinal cord injury, you may suffer from paralysis or damage to your head and neck region.
• Sacral spinal cord injuries typically cause damage to the pelvic organs, hips, back of thighs, and buttocks.
• You may have a lumbar spinal cord injury if you suffer damage to your hips and legs.
• Thoracic spinal cord injuries usually result in damage to your upper chest, abdomen, and mid-back.

Doctors will determine how to best prescribe your treatment based on where your injury manifests and whether you are suffering from a complete or incomplete injury.

How Do You Prove Medical Negligence in Missouri?

Under Missouri state law, you have the right to collect compensation for your damages that you suffered in an accident that someone else’s negligence or recklessness caused. Many different acts of negligence can contribute to spinal cord injury, from car accidents to slips and falls and medical malpractice. However, you will need to prove that the at-fault parties committed an act of negligence to receive complication.

To prove negligence in a spinal cord injury case, you and your Kansas City personal injury lawyer will need to establish four elements in Missouri civil court.

• First, you will need to prove that the person or entity responsible for your serious injury owed you a duty of care. For example, your surgeon has a duty to uphold a certain standard of care while treating you, and your boss has a responsibility to maintain a safe working environment.
• Next, you will need to prove that the at-fault party breached his or her duty of care somehow. If your foreman on your construction site knew about unsafe scaffolding and failed to take action, you can establish this breach. If your surgeon committed an error during surgery that a similarly trained and educated surgeon would know not to do, you can also establish a breach.
• You will also need to prove that the breach of duty of care led to your injuries. If you suffered a fall from unsafe scaffolding at your construction site, you can establish this causation. If your surgeon made an egregious mistake during surgery that led to your injury, you can also establish causation.
• Finally, you will need to prove that you suffered damages as a result of the breach of duty of care. These damages can include multiple economic and non-economic losses related to your injury, including medical expenses, lost wages, and disability.

If your spine injury was the result of medical negligence, contact our Kansas City medical malpractice attorneys.

What Is the Average Spinal Cord Injury Settlement?

The total amount of spinal cord injury settlements vary from case to case. As a result, it can be very difficult to provide an estimate or an average for the compensation you could receive in a spinal cord injury lawsuit. However, certain factors can increase your potential award amount.

The more severe and life-impacting the injury is, the higher the settlement amount will likely be. Since spinal cord injuries typically involve extensive, lifelong treatment, months of lost wages or a loss of total earning ability altogether, and a number of emotional damages, including chronic pain and disability, these settlements tend to be very high. Contact Fowler Pickert Eisenmenger Norfleet to discuss your potential compensation.

What Is the Statute of Limitations on Spinal Cord Injuries in Missouri?

In every state when you are preparing to file a personal injury lawsuit in civil court, you must adhere to the statute of limitations. These rules place a deadline on the amount of time you have to file your claim. In the state of Missouri, you have five years from the date of your injury to file a spinal cord injury lawsuit.

If you did not discover your injury until later on, you have five years from the date of discovery to file. However, in spinal cord injury cases, this is not likely since the injury is so severe. If you are filing a claim against a government agency or employee, you will need to adhere to a separate statute of limitations, which can be very short. For example, you only have 90 days from the date of your injury to file a claim against a Missouri city government.

To ensure you file your spinal cord injury lawsuit in a timely manner, contact Fowler Pickert Eisenmenger Norfleet as soon as possible to begin the claims process.

Working With Talented Kansas City Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys

Fowler Pickert Eisenmenger’s experienced team of spinal cord injury lawyers knows how to advocate for your needs. We are experienced in making sure insurance companies pay not only for your current medical needs but for any other expenses related to your spinal injury you may have throughout your life. Your injury likely caused you to miss work. We can help you gain lost wages from the time of your injury. You may very well be also eligible for further financial compensation for your pain and suffering.

For spinal cord injuries to heal properly, prompt and accurate diagnosis is necessary, followed by appropriate treatment. If your medical professionals fail to treat you properly, you could experience slowed healing – and that’s a best-case scenario. At worst, you could be looking at a lifetime of pain as a result of medical incompetence.

Fowler Pickert Eisenmenger Norfleet is experienced in medical malpractice suits related to paralysis and spinal cord injuries. With the help of our team, you can get the financial compensation you need and deserve. We offer a free initial consultation to assess your case. In this consultation, we go over the circumstances of your injury and identify the parties at fault. While most personal injury suits are settled quickly, our team prepares every spinal injury case as if we were taking it to court.