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Spinal Cord Injury Attorney in Fort Worth

Did you suffer a spinal cord injury due to someone else’s negligence in Fort Worth? If so, your first call should be to the Fort Worth spinal cord injury attorneys of The Wilhite Law Firm for help.

We know how a spinal cord injury can be devastating and life-altering. Spinal cord injuries often result in some degree of permanent disability and impairment that can impact a person’s ability to work, participate in activities, and take care of daily tasks. The consequences of spinal cord injuries can also place significant financial burdens on an injured victim.

We Have Some of the Best Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers in Fort Worth

At The Wilhite Law Firm, we focus on helping people who have been injured through no fault of their own. Our goal is to provide a compassionate and personal approach to legal representation for injured people at their most vulnerable and difficult moments. You don’t have to go through this alone. Let a spinal cord injury lawyer advocate for your rights and interests.

Reach out to us today for a free case evaluation for your back and spine injuries.

When Can You File a Personal Injury Claim After a Spinal Cord Injury?

You may be able to file a personal injury claim soon after suffering a spinal cord injury in an accident somebody else’s negligence caused. Negligence can take many forms, such as speeding before a car accident, a defectively designed or manufactured product, or failing to fix a hazardous property condition, for example. A successful claim will also require you to prove that you have incurred losses because of your back injuries. Get in touch with us today to talk to a real Fort Worth spinal cord injury lawyer.

Common Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries in Ft. Worth

The Fort Worth spinal cord injury attorneys of The Wilhite Law Firm assist clients who have sustained spinal cord injuries because of accidents such as:

  • Car accidents
  • Truck accidents
  • Motorcycle accidents
  • Bicycle accidents
  • Pedestrian accidents
  • Product liability accidents
  • Premises liability accidents
  • Slip and fall accidents
  • Construction accidents
  • Oil field accidents

Pursuing Compensation for a Spinal Cord Injury in Fort Worth

A spinal cord injury claim can allow you to recover compensation for your expenses and losses, such as:

  • Costs of medical treatment, including ER care, surgeries and other medical procedures, prescriptions, physical rehab, and purchases of durable medical equipment
  • Long-term care expenses, including home health services and home modifications, which help you live with permanent disabilities
  • Loss of wages and income when you miss work during your recovery period
  • Loss of future earning capacity and benefits of employment if you are permanently disabled from returning to your job or other work
  • Physical pain, emotional distress, and suffering
  • Loss of quality of life

Symptoms of a Spinal Cord Injury

Symptoms that a victim of a spinal cord injury may experience immediately following an accident that causes the injury include:

  • Severe pain and pressure felt in the head, neck, and back
  • Weakness, reduced motor function, and paralysis
  • Loss of balance and coordination
  • Numbness, loss of sensation, and tingling in hands and feet
  • Difficulty breathing
  • Loss of bladder and bowel control
  • Odd positioning and twisting of the back and neck.

When a person is diagnosed with a spinal cord injury, some of the symptoms that a person might expect to experience include:

  • Paralysis and impaired motor skills
  • Spasms and exaggerated reflexes
  • Loss of ability to feel sensations such as touch, heat, and cold
  • Loss of bladder and bowel control
  • Loss of and changes to sexual function and sensitivity and fertility
  • Difficulty breathing, coughing, and clearing secretions from lungs and throat
  • Feelings of chronic pain and intense stinging sensations in the back and other parts of the body

What Can You Expect with Treatment for a Spinal Cord Injury?

While the damage caused by a spinal cord injury cannot be repaired with current medical technology, there is continuing research into techniques that may provide complete recovery to spinal cord injury victims. In the meantime, treatment for spinal cord injuries focuses on preventing further damage and helping injury victims adapt to physical limitations caused by their injury.

Initial treatment after a spinal cord injury primarily focuses on preventing further harm to a patient. Treatment options include:

  • Immobilization of the neck and spine using braces and traction devices
  • Medications intended to help reduce inflammation and swelling that may further damage the spinal cord
  • Surgical procedures to repair herniated discs and broken vertebrae, remove bone fragments and foreign objects from the spinal column, and install rods, plates, and screws to help stabilize vertebrae

After the stabilization of a spinal cord injury, the treatment focus shifts to rehabilitation to help redevelop physical skills and prevent and reduce secondary complications of a spinal cord injury and resulting disabilities. Long-term treatment may include:

  • Medications to help reduce the risk of and to treat the symptoms of secondary complications such as loss of muscle tone, spasms, bowel and bladder control issues, blood clots, hypotension and hypertension, respiratory infections, and loss of sexual function and sensitivity
  • Physical and occupational therapy, which are intended to help a patient maintain and strengthen muscle function, relearn motor skills, and develop adaptations that a patient can use to continue living independently
  • Mental health therapy, which can help a spinal cord injury victim cope with anxiety and depression that may develop

How a Spinal Cord Injury Can Forever Change a Person’s Life

While some victims of spinal cord injuries may recover some lost function through intensive rehabilitation, many people who suffer spinal cord injuries are left with some level of permanent disability and impairment.

Even though most people who experience permanent disability and impairment from a spinal cord injury can adapt to live a full, productive life, the injury irrevocably changes them. A spinal cord injury almost always means a long course of treatment and rehabilitation to achieve maximum recovery.

Even after making the best possible recovery, a spinal cord injury may render a person unable to return to work and engage in certain life activities. Recovering and living with a spinal cord injury can also be expensive, especially if an injury leaves a person unable to work and earn a living. Many people who suffer spinal cord injuries live with the effects of their injury for the rest of their lives. Contact a Fort Worth personal injury lawyer at The Wilhite Firm today.

For that reason, if you have sustained a spinal cord injury, you need an experienced attorney to help you seek the compensation and justice you deserve.

Types of Spinal Cord Injuries

Examples of spinal cord injuries that may occur in accidents include:

  • Complete spinal cord injuries, or the complete severing of the spinal cord. That renders the brain unable to send signals to any part of the body below the level of the complete spinal cord injury, thereby paralyzing the victim.
  • Incomplete spinal cord injuries, which involve a partial compromise of the spinal cord. That results in partial paralysis and loss of sensations in parts of the body below the level of the injury.
  • Anterior cord injury, which involves damage to the front of the spinal cord. Those injuries typically result in some loss of motor skills.
  • Central cord injury, or injury to the nerve cells in the center of the spinal cord. That type of injury can result in loss of fine motor control, partial paralysis, loss of bladder and bowel control, and loss of sexual function and sensitivity.
  • Brown-Sequard syndrome, an injury that occurs to the left or right side of the spinal cord. That injury typically causes paralysis and disability to the side of the body that the damage occurs on.
  • Paraplegia, or paralysis of the legs, pelvis, and lower torso.
  • Quadriplegia, also called tetraplegia, is paralysis of all body parts below the neck.

How Long Do You Have to File a Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuit in Texas?

Under Texas law, the statute of limitations gives you only two years from the date of an accident in which you suffered a spinal cord injury to file a lawsuit against those parties at fault for your injuries. If you do not file a lawsuit within the limitations period on your claim, an untimely claim can result in your suit being permanently dismissed by the court. If that happens, you will have lost the right to hold those responsible for causing your injuries accountable to provide you with the compensation you deserve.

Talk to a Fort Worth Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Today for Free

If you suffered an injury to your spinal cord in an accident that was not your fault, contact The Wilhite Law Firm to discuss your rights and legal options. Our Fort Worth spinal cord injury lawyers have extensive experience helping people like you get answers and justice.

Call us or reach out to us online now for a free case evaluation.