Virginia Personal Injury Blog - Spinal Cord Injuries

Loudoun County Breast Cancer Survivor Wins Neuropathy Disability Case

Danielle Landau — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:34:00 GMT

A combination of disabling conditions can be sufficient to prove a Social Security Disability claim. The disabled worker does not need to have one medical diagnosis only; we have won Federal disability cases where the claimant has several permanent injuries or chronic problems that prevent them from working. Recently, a Lovettsville client complained of nerve damage in her legs, feet and hands as a result of her chemotherapy treatments. She is a survivor of breast cancer who was experiencing knee pain, shooting pains in her legs, and was unable to perform any tasks requiring kneeling or standing.

Her treating doctor explained that due to her impairments, the claimant was limited to lifting only 10-pounds occasionally in her 8-hour day. She had become limited in feeling and grasping. The worker's doctor wrote that this middle-aged woman would not likely recover from her symptoms. As a result of her chemotherapy she sustained chronic peripheral neuropathy. (Peripheral neuropathy is “a problem with the functioning of the nerves outside the spinal cord.”)

The Government hired a medical consultant to examine and question the disabled worker and then give evidence against her in Court. However, the Government's doctor’s physical assessments were given little to no weight in the decision because they did not properly recognize the treating Doctor’s consultative examination, treatments or the full effects of ALL of the claimant’s injuries.

Doug Landau represented the claimant, explaining her disease, neurological problems and resulting problems. In the winning decision, the Judge wrote, “ After considering the evidence of record, the [Social Security Administration] finds that the claimant’s medically determinable impairments could reasonably be expected to produce the alleged symptoms, and that the claimant’s statements concerning the intensity, persistence, and limiting effects of these symptoms are generally credible”. While Landau has helped disabled workers who cannot work because of a crash, major accident or debilitating disease (like Multiple Sclerosis, Hepatitis, AIDS, etc.), the ABRAMS LANDAU team has also been able to assist people with SEVERAL disabling conditions to win their Social Security Disability cases.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Danielle Landau

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

Substance P: Neck and back pain when the damaged disc is not pressing on a nerve.

Doug Landau — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 11:15:00 GMT

At a medico-legal program, I participated in the discussion of back and neck pain after an accident. When there is a herniated disc that presses on the spinal cord or nerve root, one can actually see the anatomical cause of the pain on an MRI film. When the disc material or fragment that has escaped from the disc (the “jelly from the doughnut”) is not pressing on the spinal cord or nerve root, there is often pain as well. Evidence tends to suggest that “Substance P” (for "Prostaglandin") escapes from the disc into the root canal. There is no actual, mechanical, anatomical impingement. However, the Substance P may irritate the nerve root and cause localized pain.

When there is a chemical cause of back or neck pain, then surgery may not be the best solution. Some clients have found relief through epidural injections. I have accompanied clients to their appointments and observed these procedures, which are performed under local anaesthesia, with the patient awake. The doctor looks at an x-ray machine that shows the medicine being injected into the back or neck, near the site of the pain so that relief can be had. Because pills are not swallowed, the stomach (and complications from upset) are bypassed and the medicine is injected directly to the spot where the doctor believes the greatest relief of symptoms will be achieved. Recent medical studies have shown that cervical epidural injections can lead to pain relief significant enough to prevent patients from having to undergo surgery. Other researchers have also concluded that lumbar injections reduce the need for lumbar surgical decompression. Investigations into the biochemistry of disc degeneration and herniation indicate that intraspinal inflammation is a major cause of radicular pain. A neurotoxic, inflammatory mediator is contained within the disc nucleus and is released after annular injury. In other words, just like the fibrous, touch car tire that may get a small tear in the fibers may leak, the disc's annular fibers can tear and the material inside can leak into the spinal canal, irritating and inflaming the spinal cord. This can happen even where the bulging or herniated disc is not physically touching the large spinal cord nerve bundle. For more, go to Pain Physician.Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Doug Landau

So many ways to say "Herniated Disc"

Doug Landau — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 09:42:50 GMT

Helping clients who suffer from herniated discs is complicated by the fact that doctors use different terms to describe the same vertebral injury. A herniated disc usually consists of a painful rupture of the fibrocartilage of the disc between spinal vertebrae. In other words, the disc or "cushion" between the hard, bony vertebra tears and disc material from the inside leaks out.

Many injured victims find out in the weeks and months after a car crash that there are discs in their backs or necks that have become herniated discs. We have seen doctors use all of the following phrases to describe this condition:

Ruptured intervertebral disc,
Slipped disc,
Herniated disc,
Protruding disc,
Extruded disc,
Disc prolapse,
Disc prolapse
Herniated nucleus pulposus ("HNP")

The two best analogies we use to explain this injury is that "the jelly has come out of the donut," and "the toothpaste has come out of the tube, has then hardened and fragments broken off." Bottom line: make sure your doctor explains to you what has happened to your spine and what can be done to treat it so that it does not get worse.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Doug Landau

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

Heavy Backpacks Causing Back and Spinal Injuries in Children

Shannon Weidemann — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:24:54 GMT

The American Physical Therapy Association has released a study showing that heavy backpacks worn by school children can cause back and spinal injuries. The study was conducted by Mary Ann Wilmarth of Northwestern University.

According to Wilmarth, injury can occur when a child, in trying to adapt to a heavy load, uses faulty postures such as arching the back, bending forward, twisting, or leaning to one side. These postural adaptations can cause improper spinal alignment, which hampers functioning of the disks that provide shock absorption. A backpack load that is too heavy also causes muscles and soft tissues to work harder, leading to strain and fatigue. This leaves the neck, shoulders, and back more vulnerable to injury.

Wilmarth recommends that backpacks should weigh no more that 10 to 15 percent of a child's body weight and that both straps should be worn to distribute the weight evenly. Used correctly a wheeled backpack can also be used to avoid a back injury.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Car Accidents Number One Cause of Spinal Injuries in Children

Shannon Weidemann — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 21:13:26 GMT

A new study by researchers at Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital has shown that the number one cause of spinal cord injuries in children is from car accidents. Most of the children were not wearing a seatbelt at the time.

"Motor vehicle accidents are by far the No. 1 cause of pediatric spinal cord injury within the U.S., accounting for more than 55% of cases," write the researchers.
They add that nearly 70% of the children and teens who suffered spinal cord injury in auto accidents weren't wearing seatbelts when the accident happened.

Boys have a higher tendancy to suffer a spinal cord injury by two to one. Researchers believe it may be that boys are involved in more contact sports. Seatbelt use by more children would probably reduce the number of injuries.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Treatment for Spinal Cord Injury Still Evolving

Staff Writer — Fri, 18 Nov 2005 11:13:06 GMT

Wise Young, Chrisoper Reeve's doctor, spoke recently at a rehab institute in Connecticut. His speech focused on the advancement in reasearch and treatment of spinal cord injuries since Reeve's horse-riding accident in 1995.

Most of his talk, titled "Stem Cells and Spinal Injury Repair," centered on advancements in spinal cord injury research since 1995. Much research focuses on getting axons, the parts of nerve cells through which impulses travel from the cell body, to re-establish communication through areas disrupted by injury. Young went into great detail in describing research and advances in the areas of surgery, rehabilitation and drug and regenerative therapies that have taken place across the world.

Young noted a lack of funding (from the Federal Government) for stem-cell research as a reason research and treatments have not advanced more quickly. He is working togeter with a network of states who have started funding on their own in the face of a lack of federal funds. Record-Journal.com provides more details: Spinal Cord Injuries.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Staff Writer