About 4,500 people each year suffer paraplegia, a paralysis in the lower part of the body caused by damage to the spinal cord.
Often paraplegia results from unavoidable accidents, but there are many cases that involve negligence and liability -- auto accidents, hazardous workplaces, unsafe premises, defective products, hospital-contracted infections and medical malpractice.
Paraplegia, both complete and incomplete, results in not only loss of feeling and function in the legs and lower part of the body but can also bring pain or intense stinging caused by nerve damage, loss of bladder or bowel control, spasms, changes in sexual function and fertility and shortened lifespan.
Additionally, medical and general care is extremely costly.
If you or someone you love suffered paraplegia as the result of negligence or carelessness, you may want to contact a paraplegia attorney.
Auto accidents cause nearly half (46.9 percent) of all spinal cord injuries. In some cases, however, it was not just a driver who was at fault and potentially liable but also the motor vehicle itself that caused the most severe injury.
For example, automobile lap belts can focus the impact of a crash to a person’s mid-section, causing serious spinal cord injury and paraplegia. While these belts have been replaced in many vehicles with safer lap-shoulder belts, or three-point belts, the newer belts were not mandated for all cars until 2007 models. Many older models remain on the road with unsafe lap belts.
Kline & Specter, PC, has handled several such cases. In 2006, Shanin Specter won a favorable settlement against a major American automaker for a 10-year-old girl left paralyzed after a head-on collision. In an earlier case, he negotiated a substantial settlement with General Motors for a young man paralyzed from the waist down after an accident in which he wore a lap belt. (See The Miller Case.)
Some spinal injuries can even be caused at hospitals, where infections can be contracted by patients. Though rare, blood-borne infections can lead to spine damage and paraplegia. And medical malpractice can lead to paraplegia, particularly cases in which a doctor fails to timely diagnose infections, hematoma or spinal compressions.
Philadelphia-based Kline & Specter, PC, has more than 40 highly trained attorneys, several of whom are also skilled physicians. We have won many large settlements and verdicts for injury victims in Pennsylvania, New Jersey Delaware and nationwide. (See Major Victories.)
Call Kline & Specter at 800-243-1100 to speak with a paraplegia lawyer today.
For more information on paraplegia and spinal cord injuries, click on these sites:
- PN (Paraplegia News)
- MayoClinic.com
- Spinal Cord Injury Information Network
Kline & Specter handles lawsuits involving paraplegia in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware and Nationwide, working with local attorneys in states outside PA, NJ and DE.
News
- Florida Legislature OKs $8.5 million medical malpractice settlement for paralyzed girl.
