Virginia Beach Personal Injury Lawyer - Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal Cord Injury Victims Face Major Financial Expenses

John Cooper — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 12:10:00 GMT

The rehabilitation costs associated with a spinal cord injury victim ranges between $200,000 to $700,000 dollars per year, according to unitedspinal.org. Some of the primary expenses include making alterations to your home, your vehicle, treatment, purchasing a wheelchair and maintenance, etc. This means the cost for continual treatment over the lifespan of a spinal cord injury victim can be over $30 million dollars.

Many victims are grappling with the financial demands of their injury. Currently, there are roughly 250,000 to 400,000 Americans living with a spinal cord injury. Over 13,000 people are injured every year, according to the travisroyfoundation.org. In fact, every 41 minutes an individual suffers a spinal cord injury.

Here’s a video illustrating the impact a spinal cord injury can have on you and your family…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tta1BBGqPI&feature=PlayList&p=0D96931AAA242B16&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=6

You may think, “Well, these people have insurance to cover a majority of their costs.” Wrong. Only 52 percent of spinal cord injury victims are covered by private health insurance when their injury occurred, according to sci-info-pages.com.

As a personal injury lawyer with 20 years of experience representing clients who’ve suffered spinal cord injuries and other severe injuries, this is why I fight so hard for large financial settlements. The victims not only deserve compensation, but truly need it to receive proper care.

About the Editors: Shapiro, Cooper Lewis & Appleton personal injury law firm is based in Virginia (VA), near the NE North Carolina (NC) border and handles car,truck,railroad, and medical negligence cases and more. Our lawyers proudly edit the Virginia Beach Injuryboard, Norfolk Injuryboard, and Northeast North Carolina Injuryboard as a pro bono public information service. Lawyers licensed in: VA, NC, SC, WV, DC, KY.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by John Cooper

What To Do After a Spinal Cord Injury

Emily Mapp Brannon — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 19:20:00 GMT

Suffering a spinal cord injury is a horrendous event in a person’s life. It could result in permanent paralysis and/or protracted rehabilitation. No matter what the situation or circumstance, there are some essential steps you should take after incurring a spinal cord injury.

As a personal injury lawyer who’s represented numerous clients dealing with traumatic, life-changing injuries and as someone who’s written articles about the severity of spinal cord injuries, the first thing an individual needs to do after an injury is seek medical attention to assess the damage done to your body. You may need to see more than one doctor and/or physician, depending on the severity of the injury.

You also need seek legal counsel. If you suffered your spinal cord injury on the job or in an accident, seeking the advice of a trained attorney who specializes in personal injury law is extremely important.

Another important step is to remain positive and try your best to recuperate the fullest extent possible and/or develop a new routine to adapt to the injury (e.g. learning how to properly operate a wheel chair).

I’m glad I live in a state like Virginia (VA) which features the Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program. They will hold a symposium in Virginia Beach, Virginia (VA) in September of 2009 to discuss the latest breakthroughs and newest treatments for doctors who specialize in spinal cord injury and victims of spinal cord injuries.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Emily Mapp Brannon

About Brain Injury and Spinal Cord Injuries in America

Rick Shapiro — Mon, 05 May 2008 08:22:47 GMT

Note: see also category Head & Brain Injuries.

Brain injury is a major cause of death and disability of people under age 45 and a significant medical/legal issue in tort and insurance law today. According to the Brain Injury Association of Virginia (VA) 28,000 visits to an emergency room occur in Virginia (VA) each year as a result of traumatic brain injury. Across the U.S. traumatic brain injury (TBI) costs over 56 billion dollars every year.

Brain Injury Association of Virginia (VA) provides information to the Virginia Legislature on behalf of family members and people who suffer from brain injury. The organization also provides a toll free helpline for people to provide assistance in coping with this difficult and often misunderstood disease. Their toll free line is (800) 334-8443. According to the Brain Injury Association of Virginia (VA) website, there are over 151,000 Virginians living with long term problems from brain injuries. Because of the large number of members of the Armed Services in Virginia (VA) the issue is particularly important in this state. One of the main types of injury that our soldiers come back from Iraq with are brain injuries as a result of both open head injuries and closed head injuries from improvised explosive devices.

Attorneys handling personal injury and wrongful death cases in Virginia (VA) have become increasingly aware of the prevalence of brain injury in recent years. Clients can suffer life threatening and catastrophic brain injuries in car accidents, motorcycle accidents, truck accidents, slip and fall injuries, trip and fall injuries, bicycle accidents, off road accidents, medical malpractice accidents, and products liability cases like defective ladders. Each of these areas of these personal injury and wrongful death cases may well involve brain injury to the client. Knowing how to identify cases of brain injury and to properly handle them in a Virginia (VA) lawsuit is key to competent representation. To learn more about this subject, please visit our section on Head and Brain Injuries.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Rick Shapiro