More than 250 000 people in the US today live with spinal cord injuries. In most cases, the injuries are a result of trauma. In fact, 44% of all spinal cord injuries are caused by automobile accidents alone. Sports and violence are also very common causes of these injuries. 8% of spinal cord injuries are caused by sports, and 60% of sport-related injuries are caused by diving accidents. In persons over the age of 45, slip and fall accidents are in fact more likely to cause spinal cord injuries than automobile accidents. More than 80% of spinal cord injury victims are men.
Patients with a spinal cord injury usually have a loss of sensation and partial or full paralysis. Many also experience bladder and bowel complications. Spinal cord injuries also often have many additional complications. For example, men’s fertility is often affected by this type of injury. If the spinal cord injury occurs high on the body, the patient may have difficulty with normal respiration. Other complications include high blood pressure, low blood pressure, chronic pain, problems with body temperature, and an inability to sweat in the area where the injury occurred and below that level. In addition, a patient can experience acute emotional suffering, depression, and other upheavals during the treatment of a spinal cord injury.
Although more treatments are available today, many people are affected by a spinal cord injury for the rest of their lives. Many cannot return to work, while others require home care or extended hospital stays. Most patients require years of rehabilitative work and many never recover motor skills fully. A spinal cord injury simply affects every area of a person’s life, often permanently. The costs associated with this sort of injury are also very high, especially in cases where a patient needs care at home. Nevertheless, medicine has allowed many spinal cord injury patients to survive. Five decades ago, most patients with this type of injury were not expected to survive.
Recent developments in spinal cord injury research have been promising. For example, some scientists have found that a drug called Cethrin may help people with spinal cord injury. The drug works by inhibiting Rho, a part of the body that triggers cell death after a spinal cord injury. In many cases, patients who experience a spinal cord injury may continue to worsen after the initial impact because cell death occurs, inhibiting neural regeneration. This drug promises to help decrease this problem, possibly leading to better recovery.
If you or a loved one have sustained a spinal cord injury, your first priority should be to get the best possible medical care. Prompt medical attention and good care can help ensure a better probability of recovery. An important part of recovering from a spinal cord injury, too, is often to meet with a qualified Florida lawyer. A good lawyer can explain your legal options and can help ensure that you have the financial resources to get support and medical attention. Unfortunately, many insurance providers do not consider the full-term costs of a spinal cord injury and patients who sign insurance papers without consulting a Florida attorney may find that they do not have adequate compensation for basic medical necessities.
If you or a loved one has experienced a spinal cord injury as a result of negligence, a Florida attorney can help ensure that you get the best quality medical care possible. If you need to speak to an attorney, you can arrange for a free, no-obligation consultation with a qualified Florida attorney simply by calling 1- 800-535-2962 (1 800 5 FLAXMAN).