Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer in Odessa, Texas

Common Symptoms of Spinal Cord Injuries

See a doctor immediately if you experience:

• Inability to move
• Weakness, lack of coordination, or poor balance
• Trouble walking
• Extreme pain or pressure in your back, neck, or head
• Loss of sensation, including the ability to feel if something is hot or cold
• Decreased or increased sensation
• Numbness, pain, or an intense stinging sensation
• Loss of bladder and bowel control, including incontinence or an ability to relieve yourself
• Exaggerated reflexes or muscle spasms
• Sexual dysfunction
• Difficulty breathing or coughing

Suppose you or a loved one are experiencing symptoms. In that case, you can go to Odessa Regional Medical Center(a Level IV trauma facility), Excel ER Odessa, Signature Care Emergency Center, WesTex Urgent Care, or any other immediate care or emergency facility to see a doctor.

How Do Doctors Diagnose Spinal Cord Injuries?

Doctors begin with a thorough exam. They’ll note your symptoms and measure your reflexes, physical abilities, and neurological responses.

The next step is imaging. Most likely, you’ll go through an MRI, though doctors might call for a CT scan or X-rays. These scans can show fractures, degenerative changes to the spin, bulging discs, masses, blood clots, and more. Imaging is crucial in determining where and what type of spinal injury you’ve suffered.

Common Treatments for Spinal Cord Injuries

Depending on your injury, you may go through surgery to decompress and stabilize the spine. Other surgeries include:

• Nucleoplasty
• Discectomy
• Foraminotomy
• Artificial disc replacement
• Spinal fusion

Your doctor might recommend physical therapy, medications, and other care to help you recover. While nerves can heal over time, doctors can’t repair a damaged spinal cord. There are some experimental treatments, but there’s no cure for paralysis or loss of sensation from a complete or complete spinal cord injury.

Don’t expect your doctor to give you a prognosis right away. You often need time to heal before doctors can start to assess your abilities and potential recovery. You can continue to heal and experience improvement for years after your injury.

Common Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries in Odessa

We’ve represented individuals who’ve suffered back and spinal cord injuries in:

• Car crashes
• Truck accidents
• Motorcycle accidents
• Vehicle collisions with pedestrians and bicyclists
• Workplace accidents
• Oilfield accidents
• Medical malpractice
• Slips and falls
• Cases of neglect

Serious accidents aren’t flukes. Nine times out of 10, they happen because someone did something wrong. Someone was careless, thoughtless, or irresponsible. That’s why you need to call an Odessa spinal cord injury lawyer. We’ll investigate the accident to find out what happened and why.

Who Is Liable for a Spinal Cord Injury?

Knowing the truth is the only way to determine your legal rights, including whether you can demand compensation and file a lawsuit.

Our experienced team of trial lawyers digs into your case. We gather and review evidence, such as:

• Police reports
• Any government agency report
• Photos
• Nearby security camera footage
• Witness statements

In some cases, we hire an accident reconstruction expert. They might calculate specific facts, like the speed and trajectory of a vehicle, or create a 2D or 3D model of the accident.

After an in-depth investigation, we’ll likely know what caused your accident, who was at fault, and who is liable for compensating you. However, we can’t always know the whole truth right away. We might recommend filing a lawsuit to take advantage of discovery. During discovery, we can demand information and answers from the other side.

Proving Negligence in an Odessa Spinal Cord Injury Case

To win compensation after suffering a spinal cord injury, you have to prove someone else was negligent or liable in another way. Sometimes, like in a product liability claim, a business could be responsible without doing anything wrong. We’ll always explain the law that applies to your case and what we have to prove to recover compensation.

Most accident claims rest on proving negligence. In simple terms, negligence happens when someone isn’t careful and causes another person harm. In legal terms, negligence includes four elements: a duty of care, breach of duty, causation, and damages.

We have to prove:

Compensation for Spinal Cord Injuries in Odessa

If we can establish that someone else caused your spinal cord injury, then you may win compensation for:

• Out of pocket expenses
• Past and future medical bills
• Lost wages and employment benefits
• Past and future pain and suffering
• Past and future mental anguish
• Disfigurement
• Physical limitation
• Reduced earning capacity
• Loss of consortium

What is Considered When Determining Compensation?

You must work with a spinal cord injury attorney to get the most from your claim. Spinal cord injuries are complex and have varied effects on your current life and future. A law firm experienced with these kinds of claims knows how to prove the severity of your injury, identify your myriad damages, and demand maximum compensation.

When valuing your claim, we consider:

• Your ability to go back to work and your future wages: Are you completely disabled and unable to work? Can you perform some work, but it’ll be tough to find a well-paid position where you live?
• Your medical bills: Spinal cord injuries often result in hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills even after health insurance coverage.
• Your future medical needs: You’ll most likely need ongoing care, doctor’s visits, prescriptions, and medical devices.
• The costly changes you have to make in your life: If you’ve suffered some degree of paralysis, you may need to renovate your home, adapt your vehicle, or purchase a new car.
• Your physical pain and discomfort: Spinal cord injuries are often painful, and the pain and uncomfortable sensations can last years or a lifetime. We account for the fact you may physically suffer in the future.
• Your mental health: Catastrophic injuries often harm a person’s mental health as well as physical health. You may need mental health care to recover from the trauma of the accident. You may need treatment for PTSD, depression, sleep disorders, and other conditions.
• Your personal life: Spinal cord injuries can hinder a person’s sexual function and ability to have biological children, profoundly impacting married couples. It also affects a person’s future romantic relationships.

Fatal Spinal Cord Injuries

Your loved one may have passed away days, weeks, or months after suffering a catastrophic spinal cord injury. We highly recommend giving us a call to discuss Texas wrongful death law. You may have the right to file a lawsuit and demand compensation for your family and love one’s estate.

Wrongful death damages potentially include:

• Stress caused by a long recovery, with sometimes limited results for an injury that ends up being fatal
• Cost of dealing with a family member’s life-long spinal injury, including medical bills, rehabilitation, home modifications, and job training
• The family’s pain and suffering

If you can prove the at-fault party acted intentionally or showed a reckless disregard for the lives and safety of others, then you can demand punitive damages. In Texas, these damages punish the wrongdoer.

Our Process for Pursuing Your Spinal Injury Claim in Odessa

When it comes to spinal cord injury claims, we have years of experience building effective strategies and winning fair compensation for our clients. Trial preparation is key. It puts us in a position with the most knowledge of relevant facts, which we can leverage when negotiating a settlement.

Insurance companies often offer less early in the process. But thanks to discovery during litigation, both parties usually find all the necessary facts. Both sides ask each other questions, exchange documents, and information, and interview parties and witnesses under oath in depositions.

We make sure you receive a fair amount to help you in the long run. Over the years, we have developed an impressive record of verdicts and settlements. If insurance companies don’t cooperate – we have the skill and resources to take any case to trial.

Talk To an Odessa Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer Today

We hope you’ll give us a call right away. You have the right to hire a spinal cord accident lawyer any time, even if you’re working with an insurance company. We recommend giving us a call before negotiating a settlement or cashing a check. A quick settlement after a spinal cord injury can be enticing, but it’s usually less than you deserve. Let us fight to get you more.

We offer free consultations, and there are no up-front fees for us to get started on your case. You only pay us if we recover compensation.