Quadriplegia injuries are some of the most severe kinds of injuries that can occur after an accident. They can impact your entire life, keeping you from work or even embracing your loved ones. If someone’s negligence or wrongful action led you to suffer this type of catastrophic injury, you have the right to file a personal injury claim. Learn more about these injuries, what accidents commonly cause them, and your options for compensation.
What Is Quadriplegia?
Quadriplegia is a loss of motor function and sensation in all four limbs — essentially, paralysis from the neck down. Depending on its severity, quadriplegia can also affect some of the processes and bodily systems that keep you alive.
The location of the injury will impact the effects you may experience. Generally, the higher up the injury occurs along your spine, the worse the consequences.
If the injury occurs in your C1 to C2, which are sections in your cervical spine, you can potentially lose control of all limbs and the muscles that regulate breathing. Without medical attention, these injuries can be fatal.
Injuries in this location also cut off your brain’s connection to your autonomic nervous system, which manages functions including:
- Blood pressure
- Sweating
- Digestion
- Urination and defecation
- Heart rate
- Sexual arousal
An injury that occurs slightly lower, in your C3 to C4, can result in loss of control over your four limbs but doesn’t necessarily involve the breathing muscles. Coughing can be an issue, however, and your chances of developing chronic respiratory infections increase.
If the injury occurs anywhere in your C4 to C8, you can experience varying levels of paralysis throughout your hands and arms.
Accidents That Can Result In Quadriplegia Injuries
While a variety of severe accidents can cause quadriplegia injuries, there are incidents that pose higher risks than others.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
Motor vehicle accidents are the most common causes of quadriplegia injuries. The danger is certainly great for car occupants, but the risk can be even higher for motorcycle riders since they have less protection.
Rollover accidents and head-on collisions are the most dangerous types of these, but any car accident has the potential to result in spinal cord injuries.
Slip and Fall Accidents
A slip and fall accident can cause spinal cord tears, especially if you land on your back. With these injuries, communication between your brain and your body is blocked, leading to paralysis. The damage to your spine can be significant on flat surfaces, but the potential worsens on uneven terrain.
Other Trauma
Objects hitting your spine and blows to the head can also result in quadriplegia injuries. It’s a particular danger in construction sites, where there’s a lot of heavy equipment and the potential for falling objects.
Animal attacks can also lead to serious spinal cord injuries. If an animal strikes your back or knocks you to the floor, you can suffer paralysis as a result.
How a Quadriplegia Injury Lawyer Can Help
If you’ve suffered these catastrophic injuries, you need to hire a personal injury lawyer to help you recover losses. One of the first things that your lawyer will do is establish liability. It’s important you understand how this works when pertaining to accidents resulting in quadriplegia.
Florida is a no-fault state when it comes to vehicular accidents, which means that you’d first seek compensation from your own insurance company. In the majority of cases, this is a good option for you because it doesn’t require that you prove negligence.
When dealing with such a significant injury as quadriplegia, however, your own insurance isn’t often enough.
With a lawyer helping you, you can pursue a lawsuit against the person who caused the accident. To do so, you must prove negligence. That is, you have to demonstrate that the person owed you a duty of care and that they breached it. Then, you must show that their actions led directly to the injury you suffered.
This same process applies if the injury was the result of a slip and fall accident or any other accident caused by someone’s negligence or wrongful actions. In all of these cases, your lawyer will help you prove liability.
Because you’ll be dealing with medical treatments and the aftermath of the accident, you don’t want to have to gather all of the necessary evidence yourself. Your lawyer will gather medical records, police reports, eyewitness statements, and any other proof that can help your claim.
Other than representing you, one of the most important things that your lawyer can do is negotiate with insurers. Insurance companies will try to pay you as little as they can get away with, but having an attorney representing you means fairer compensation.
If negotiations don’t result in a settlement you deserve, your lawyer can also take your case to court and advocate for you there. Occasionally, that’s the most effective way of getting the assistance you need.
Available Damages After Suffering a Quadriplegia Injury
You have the right to claim various kinds of damages. Economic damages strive to compensate you for the financial losses you suffered, including past and future medical bills.
This is essential because, with quadriplegia, you’ll not be able to work as you used to or perhaps even at all, which means a loss of future earning capacity and wages you’ve already missed out on because of the injury. Economic damages can cover these lost wages and offer compensation for further losses.
Non-economic damages compensate you for losses that are not financial. Pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment of life fit into this category. Loss of consortium is also available, which compensates family members for loss of companionship and support.
When dealing with significant injuries like quadriplegia, punitive damages are also a possibility. These punish the defendant and deter future wrongdoing.
Contact a Personal Injury Lawyer After a Catastrophic Accident
Suffering a severe and life-altering injury like quadriplegia requires that you get help from an experienced personal injury lawyer. With a lawyer on your side, you have a good chance of getting the financial assistance you need to cover medical bills, lost earning potential, and other losses like emotional damage.
At Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers, we have over 100 years of combined experience, and we’ve helped clients recover tens of millions of dollars in settlements and jury awards. We represent our clients through difficult times in their lives with tenacity and compassion.
Contact us at Baggett Law Personal Injury Lawyers to speak with a personal injury attorney. You can schedule a free consultation at (904) 396-1100.
