A Spinal Cord Injury Attorney
A Spinal Cord Injury Attorney
A spinal cord injuy attorney may not be necessary in many cases of spinal cord injury. In some cases the spinal cord may be injured but the loss of function (“stingers”) in whiplash in the neck or in sports accidents can occur without neurological loss and very few of these types of spinal injuries will require hospitalization.
Every year in the United States, it is estimated that there are about 35 cases per million per year. This works out to about 7800 cases per year (300 times 32). Many researchers feel that this number under-reports the actual figures. When the patient dies instantaneously or very soon after the injury, these cases are not reported.. A rough estimate on people who die before reaching a hospital is 20 cases per million or 4860 per year.
In the United States there are about 450,000 people suffer from this affliction or one in 670. Who are these people you may ask and the answer is that the majority of them are males between the ages of 16 and 30. Males in that age group take many risks that other members of the country would not even consider. Males make up 82% of the total. Falls acount for 21% of the total, while violence (28%) and automobile accidents make up the rest (37%). Sports related spinal cord injuries are 6% while others equals 8%.
Violence is becoming the major cause of spinal cord injuries while vehicular accidents injuries are going down.
About 52% of the victims have private health insurance when the injury occurs.
Most victims (89%) are discharged from the hospital to private homes while the remaining victims end up in a nursing home.
The number of spinal cord injury victims who are employable eight years after the accident is 63%. That was when the unemployment rate was at 4.7%/
There are several types of spinal cord injuries, but they all boil down to either complete paralysis or in complete. At least 50% of the victims suffer from other injuries connected with the accident.
The recovery statistics for the complete injuries is very low; 0.9%. A complete injury involves total loss of sensation and function below the injury point. The spinal cord may not have been severed in many cases and this can occur in paraplegia (Loss of motor and/or sensory function of the lower extremities)and quadriplegia (loss of the ability to move and/or feel both legs, both arms, and the parts of the body below the injury area. After 1988 55% of spinal cord injuries have been imcomplete while 45% are complete.
Most spinal cord injuries that occur in the neck area (c1 and c-2) often leave the victim without the ability to breath and they usually die before receiving treatment. For those that survive, mechanical ventilators or phrenic nerve pacing is required.
The average lifetime costs are staggering. For a person who is 25 years old at the time of the injury, a quadriplegic will cost $1.25 million. While the cost of sustaining a victim of the same age but who is paraplegic is $428,000.
Other complications of spinal cord injuries:
Muscle atrophy
Abnormal increases in blood pressure, sweating and other autonomic responses to pain or sensory disturbances
Bowel and bladder function dysfunction
Neuropathic pain
Loss of sexual function
Increased reflexes and limb stiffness (spasticity)
EMS1.com columnist Joseph Mistovich is the chairperson of the Department of Health Professions at Youngstown State University and is the author of numerous EMS textbooks and EMS journal articles. Read more…
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