Your brain is responsible for housing all of your memories and knowledge while also controlling your subconscious actions such as breathing and your conscious actions, such as motor function. In other words, your brain defines who you are and what you can do.
The spinal cord is the conduit that carries information from your brain to the rest of your body. Through an intricate system of nerves, the spinal cord relays information from your brain to your body and vice versa. Unfortunately, an injury to your spinal cord can disrupt that critical communication.
Whether you suffered a spinal cord injury as a result of a fall at work or a motor vehicle collision caused by a drunk driver, you will likely have to deal with huge medical expenses related to the injury and a decrease in or total loss of your wages. Even for those for whom recovery may be possible, spinal cord injuries represent a massive financial and medical hurdle to overcome.
Many spinal cord injuries have permanent consequences
Depending on the location of your injury and how severe it is, your spinal cord injury could prevent the use of your legs or all of your extremities. The higher on the spine the location of the injury is, the greater the portion of the body impacted by the injury.
Some individuals who experience the partial cutting, tearing, pinching or damage to their spinal cord may not actually have an injury that fully severs the spinal cord. In these circumstances, with physical therapy and possibly surgery, the individual with the incomplete spinal cord injury could eventually regain function in the areas below the site of the injury.
In circumstances that involve the full severing of the spinal cord, also know as a complete spinal cord injury, such recovery is currently medically impossible. In both scenarios, the victim with a spinal cord injury will likely require intensive hospitalization, rehabilitative care, and physical or occupational therapy to improve their mobility and function after a spinal cord injury.
For many people, spinal injuries mean the end of their career
Employers can and should make reasonable accommodations for injured workers that allow them to stay on the job even after a serious injury, especially if the injury happened at work. However, if your employer operates an industrial facility, they likely don’t have any jobs that require no manual effort whatsoever.
Regardless of your career path, a spinal cord injury could leave you unable to continue working in many common positions. You need to consider both the extensive medical costs of a spinal injury and the impact on your current and future earning potential when trying to determine if an offer of compensation from an insurance company accurately reflects the impact of the injury on your life.