Paralysis is a Catastrophic Injury

A catastrophic injury or illness usually occurs suddenly and without warning. Injuries may be considered catastrophic when they disrupt a person’s life and livelihood, or ability to earn a living. Management of catastrophic injuries is complex and may require the expertise of a team of health care professionals as the injured person moves from hospital to rehabilitation, and return to home and community.

The financial burden that falls on the injured nearly always requires that they find a good injury attorney to make their life a bit easier. These attorneys work closely with professionals in the health care industry as well as rehabilitation medications.

A catastrophic injury attorney has one goal and one goal only; that is to secure the best possible future for the client.

One type of catastrophic injury is paralysis.

Definition: “Total loss of strength to the affected muscle area or limb.”

For an unharmed muscle to function correctly, it requires no broken nerve connection from the brain to any area of the muscle group. Any damage that reduces the brain’s ability to move that muscle group will cause muscle weakness. Complete loss of movement results in paralysis.

Sometimes, an initial weak limb and move towards paralysis and other times a completely paralyzed limb can be restored to complete strength.

Though a single muscle region can be affected by paralysis it is all more common for a body region to take on paralysis.

Quadriplegia is where the legs, arms, and the chest become paralyzed.

Paraplegia occurs when both legs but not the arms are paralyzed, sometime affecting the chest also.

Hemiplegia: where one side of the body is paralyzed.

Paralysis may be caused by damage to the spinal cord or brain.

Damage to the brain may come from a stroke, tumor, certain diseases and a fall or blow to the head. – Damage to the spinal cord is most often caused by trauma, such as a fall or car accident. There may be other causes, such as a herniated disc or various diseases or conditions. The type of paralysis may give important clues to its origin. Paraplegia, or paralysis of the legs, occurs after damage to the lower spinal cord, and quadriplegia occurs after injury to the upper spinal cord, at the shoulders or higher. Spinal cord damage too high on the neck will affect the nerves serving the lungs and heart paralyzing the muscles that circulate blood and cause breathing, resulting in death.

Paralysis is not always treatable but often times it is through a long process called rehabilitation. Rehabilitation can include physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, and vocational rehab.

Legally, there are many consequences to a paralysis injury. An injury attorney that consults with doctors, specialists, and experts to determine causes will always be necessary. The job of an injury attorney is to indemnify a client, meaning either fixing the problem by getting medical help for the client or compensation for the injury.

Medicare or medicaid comes into play when the paralyzed person is unable to earn a living due to the injury. This often goes hand in hand with Worker’s Comp if the injury was job related, in which case, the injured with not have to find their own injury attorney, but can find one through insurance which will then subrogate for the client and sue the responsible party.