Kansas Spine Injury Lawyers

Spinal cord injury causes myelopathy, which is damage to the myelinated fiber tracts that carry sensation and motor signals to and from the brain. Spinal cord injury can be caused by many different things such as:

• Trauma - auto accidents, falls, gunshots, motorcycle accidents, sports injuries etc.
• Tumors - meningiomas, ependymomas, astrocytomas and metastatic cancer;
• Ischemia - results from obstruction of spinal blood vessels
• Developmental Disorders - spina bifida, meningomyolcoele, etc.
• Neurodegenerative Diseases - Friedreich's ataxia, spinocerebellar ataxia, etc.
• Demyelinative Diseases - multiple sclerosis
• Transverse Myelitis - results from spinal cord stroke, inflammation or other causes.

It is estimated that 10,500 people suffer a spinal cord injury every year in the United States. Approximately 450,000 people in the United States are living with a spinal cord injury, which equates to about 1 in every 670 people. 78% of spinal cord injury victims are males between the ages of 16 and 30 and are the result of automobile accidents (42%), violence (24%), or falls (22%).

Depending on where the injury occurs, determines how much damage it can incur on a victim's abilities. In addition to a loss of sensation and motor function below the point of injury, spinal cord injury victims may experience the following:

• Dysfunctions of the bowel and bladder, including bladder infections
• Sexual dysfunction
• Loss of breathing
• Inability or reduced ability to regulate heart rate, blood pressure, and sweating - causing lack of control over body temperature
• Increases reflexes and stiffness of the limbs
• Neuropathic pain
• Autonomic Dysreflexia - abnormal increase in blood pressure, sweating or other responses to pain or sensory disturbances
• Atrophy or degeneration of the muscles
• Osteopororis (loss of calcium) and bone degeneration
• Gallbladder and renal stones

Most of the time a spinal cord injury will be diagnosed and treated immediately and appropriately. Unfortunately this is not always the case. A patient may seek medical attention after an accident of some kind or for pain the back. The physician may not even consider spinal cord injury, which puts the patient at greater risk of further injury.

When a spinal cord injury is suspected it is important that the physician do certain tests to determine whether a spinal injury has occurred and how to go about treating it. CT scans and MRI's are the most common and immediate tests that should be ordered so that a physician can determine any injury to the spine.

If you have suffered a spinal cord injury because of the negligence of your physician, it is important to hold them accountable for the damages they have caused you. Please contact one of the skilled Kansas spinal injury attorneys at Prochaska, Giroux & Howell, for your free consultation.