Spinal Cord & Traumatic Brain Injury
Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI)
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that results in a loss of function such as mobility or feeling. Frequent causes of damage are trauma (car accidents, gun shots, falls, etc.) or disease (polio, spina bifida, Friedreich’s Ataxia, etc.). The spinal cord does not have to be severed in order for a loss of function to occur. In fact, in most people with SCI, the spinal cord is intact, but the damage to it results in loss of functioning. Almost 11,000 people in the U.S. sustain a traumatic spinal cord injury each year, resulting in temporary or permanent sensory deficit, motor deficit, or bowel or bladder dysfunction, and 200,000 people in this country live with paralysis caused by SCI. More than half the people who sustain an SCI are between 16 and 30 years old. More males than females sustain this type of injury – the ratio is more than four to one. The most common cause of SCI is motor vehicle crashes, accounting for at least 36 percent of these injuries (broken down as follows: no restraints used, 20%; restraints used, 13.7%; motorcycle, 7.4%; accidents involving pedestrians, 5.2%; other, 2.1%). Violence-related SCIs have been steadily increasing over the past two decades, and today, violence is associated with 29 percent of SCIs. Falls and sports cause 21 percent and 7 percent of SCI cases, respectively.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is the term used to describe the damage to the brain suffered as a result of a sudden physical force. The human brain consists of billions of microscopic fibers, suspended in cerebrospinal fluid. While the exterior skull is smooth, the inner surface contains ribbing and pronounced bony structures. Impact with these inner surfaces of the skull causes tearing and bruising that results in brain damage.
Injuries occur when momentum of the brain causes it to impact against a skull that has been decelerated. Typically, TBI is caused by the impact of a head with an object, the windshield or dashboard of a car, for example. In such cases the injury is considered to be a closed head injury. Closed head injury may also occur when the brain undergoes a severe forward or backward shaking. Examples of this could be seen in mishandled infants or whiplash victims. TBI can also be caused by a penetrating head injury, whereby an object such as a bullet penetrates through the skull and into the brain. Closed head injuries present unique challenges in litigation since they often will demonstrate no obvious external symptoms of injury, even thought the damage to the brain can be severe. TBI does not refer to brain injuries or defects that are hereditary, congenital or degenerative, or induced by birth trauma, toxic substances, or disease producing organisms.
If you or someone you love has suffered from spinal cord or traumatic brain injury, please call Bretz Law Offices today. Remember, hospital and home visits are available and your initial consultation is completely free of charge. Please call today.
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The above is not legal advice. That can only come from a qualified attorney who is familiar with all the facts and circumstances of a particular, specific case and the relevant law.
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