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Omaha Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers
Experienced legal counsel for Omaha accident victims living with spinal cord injuries
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According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, over 18,000 people sustain traumatic spinal cord injuries (SCIs) every year in the United States. These injuries can significantly alter the lives of survivors and their loved ones, and they also happen to be some of the most costly injuries we work with in personal injury cases.
Car crashes, truck accidents, motorcycle accidents, and falls are commonly associated with these injuries, but sports and other recreational activities can also pose heightened risks. Not every spinal cord injury has legal implications. Those that do, however, generally involve questions surrounding whether one party’s negligence resulted in another party sustaining a spinal cord injury.
If the evidence shows that a spinal cord injury happened because of another person’s negligence, the injured victim may be within their rights to hold them accountable under Nebraska law. Because spinal cord injuries are often associated with long-term care needs, costly medical interventions, and major lifestyle changes, pursuing a claim for compensation can help a survivor access vital funds to support their healing process.
At Inserra Kelley Cooper Sewell, we represent victims of negligence-related accidents who are living with spinal cord injuries and other health challenges. We’ve seen firsthand how a spinal injury can disrupt nearly every aspect of an accident victim’s life, and we are dedicated to helping these survivors advocate for the resources they need to move forward. While we can’t turn back time and stop your accident from happening, we may be able to help you lay a more solid foundation for what comes next.
Contact us today to schedule a free, no-obligation consultation with a member of our team. We’re standing by to learn more about your case and talk you through any legal options that may be available to you here in Nebraska.
How We Can Help
- What is a spinal cord injury?
- Are there different kinds of SCIs?
- Common causes of spinal cord injuries
- Establishing liability for a spinal cord injury
- What compensation may be available?
- Why work with Inserra Kelley Cooper Sewell?
- Frequently asked questions about spinal cord injury claims
- Do you have a spinal cord injury lawyer near me?
What is a spinal cord injury?
The spinal cord is an integral component of the body’s nervous system, and it’s responsible for sending important signals from your brain to the rest of your body. You can almost think of it like a telephone wire that transports messages to your muscles, nerves, organs, and other body parts. When the spinal cord becomes damaged in some way, this is referred to as a spinal cord injury or SCI.
Spinal cord injuries can significantly interrupt all kinds of bodily functions because they cause a sort of kink in the telephone wire. Even relatively minor damage can interrupt the flow of important nervous system signals, which can cause a variety of symptoms including:
- Loss of sensation
- Paralysis
- Loss of bowel or bladder control
- Muscle spasms or changes in reflexes
- Difficulty breathing
- Pain or tingling sensations
- Loss of coordination or muscle control
Some of these symptoms are more manageable than others. Relatively minor injuries may only cause small changes in a patient’s functioning, while severe injuries may result in life-altering conditions like partial or full paralysis. If you suspect that you may have suffered a spinal cord injury, it’s important that you seek emergency medical attention right away to safeguard against any potentially catastrophic health complications.
Are there different kinds of SCIs?
Spinal cord injuries can vary considerably in terms of severity and location. To simplify things, medical professionals often classify SCIs into two different categories:
Complete SCIs
A person who sustains a complete SCI will have no sensory or motor function preserved in the lowest sacral segments. For example, a patient who suffered a complete SCI in the lumbar region may lose feeling and function in the bladder, bowel, lower abdomen, lower back, and parts of the legs. Paralysis is commonly linked to complete SCIs, but the way an accident victim’s symptoms present themselves will depend on precisely which part of the spinal cord was damaged.
Incomplete SCIs
As the name would suggest, an incomplete SCI doesn’t entirely prevent the brain from sending signals to other body parts. Many patients with incomplete SCIs retain some movement or sensation below the level of injury, though their functioning may still be much more limited than it was before their accident. Many patients with incomplete SCIs still find themselves struggling or unable to return to their pre-accident routines and may require rehabilitation, physical therapy, and mobility aids to help them perform daily tasks.
Complete and incomplete spinal cord injuries can permanently alter the way an accident survivor engages with the world around them. These injuries can cause a variety of physical symptoms, but they can also be the source of mental, emotional, and financial distress. Since many SCI survivors require long-term care, the costs associated with these injuries tend to compound over time and can leave entire families struggling to stay afloat.
Common causes of spinal cord injuries
Spinal cord injuries are commonly caused by direct or indirect trauma to the spine. This is why spinal cord injuries are often linked to the kinds of traumatic accidents we handle as personal injury attorneys. In our practice, we commonly work with clients who suffered spinal cord injuries in incidents like:
- Falls (particularly falls from great heights)
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Pedestrian accidents
- Bicycle crashes
- Sports- and recreation-related accidents
- Diving and trampoline accidents
- Construction and workplace incidents
- Violent assaults
These kinds of accidents may result in a person sustaining a direct impact to their spinal column or being jolted in such a way as to disrupt the natural movement and position of the spine. In either scenario, it is possible for an accident victim to suffer a serious spinal cord injury with potentially catastrophic consequences for their health and well-being.
In some cases, the accident that caused a person’s injury may have been unavoidable. In these situations, an SCI survivor may not have any legal options available to help them recover compensation from another involved party. If, however, you can show that your SCI was caused by another party’s negligence, you may be within your rights to pursue a claim against them.
Establishing liability for a spinal cord injury
Some accidents happen because one or more parties failed to uphold their legal duty of care for the safety of others. In these cases, the alleged at-fault party may face claims of liability for certain losses the victim incurred due to their injuries.
In order to hold another person liable for your accident-related losses, you generally must be able to show that:
- The alleged at-fault party owed you a legal duty of care
- The alleged at-fault party violated that legal duty of care in some way
- You suffered identifiable harm in the accident
- The harm you suffered was proximately caused by the other party’s breach of duty
If these conditions are met, the other person involved in your accident may be considered negligent under Nebraska law. If so, you may be within your rights to pursue a claim for compensation against them. Because these accidents can play out in many different ways, it’s important to work with a legal team who can thoroughly investigate all of the factors that contributed to the accident and your injuries.
When our team handles these cases, we try to collect and review as much evidence as possible. Things like photos, videos, eyewitness testimony, medical records, surveillance footage, cell phone records, and other forms of documentation can help us determine whether another person’s negligence likely contributed to your SCI, so we can begin the process of helping you fight for any damages that may be available to you.
What compensation may be available?
Since the damages associated with spinal cord injuries are often extensive, putting together a comprehensive claim for compensation is particularly important in these cases. Our team is prepared to partner with outside professionals like medical providers, life care planners, economists, and vocational experts in order to evaluate a client’s long-term prognosis and any associated losses.
Depending on the facts of your case, you may be entitled to compensation for economic losses like medical bills, rehabilitation expenses, lost wages, reduced earning capacity, nursing care costs, and more. The lifetime costs associated with spinal cord injuries can range from hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars in some cases, so survivors are highly encouraged to fight for the full value of their past, present, and future losses.
Given the impact these injuries can have upon a survivor’s quality of life, some clients may also be entitled to compensation for certain non-economic losses. You may be able to recover compensation for your physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, loss of quality of life, or loss of use of one or more limbs, depending on the facts of your case. While this compensation can’t erase your suffering, it can provide you with the financial security you need to weather whatever comes next in your healing process.
Why work with Inserra Kelley Cooper Sewell?
For more than 65 years, Inserra Kelley Cooper Sewell has provided hands-on support to accident victims in Omaha and throughout Nebraska. In the past five years alone, our team has successfully recovered more than $50 million in compensation for accident victims in our community. While these past results don’t guarantee future outcomes, they speak to our firm’s dedication to advocating for the rights of our clients to the fullest extent of our capabilities.
We fight hard so you don’t have to. When you’re already dealing with the fallout of a catastrophic injury, the last thing you need is to worry about whether or not your legal team is actually fighting for what’s in your best interest. Because we know our clients may already be worried about the financial implications of their accident, we don’t charge any attorneys’ fees unless and until we recover compensation in a case.
Our hope is to give you the space and peace of mind you need to tend to your physical and emotional healing. We’ll handle the logistics so you can focus on the things and people that matter most to you during this time. We don’t charge any consultation fees, so you’re always welcome to contact our team to talk about your case, get your questions answered, and access the information you need to decide how best to proceed in your fight for accountability.
Frequently asked questions about spinal cord injury claims
Can I recover compensation for an incomplete spinal injury?
You don’t have to have suffered a complete SCI in order to be eligible for compensation. If your incomplete spinal injury happened because of another person’s negligence, you may be able to pursue a claim for certain medical expenses and other losses related to your injury.
Can I recover compensation if I was partly responsible for the accident?
How long do I have to file a spinal cord injury lawsuit in Nebraska?
Will my spinal cord injury case go to trial?
Do you have a spinal cord injury lawyer near me?
Inserra Kelley Cooper Sewell is proud to maintain a local presence in Omaha, Nebraska. You can visit our local office at 6790 Grover Street, Suite 200 to speak to one of our team members face to face.
Speak to an Omaha spinal cord injury lawyer
If you or someone you love suffered a spinal cord injury in a traumatic accident, the team at Inserra Kelley Cooper Sewell is here to help you assess your options under Nebraska law. Every case is different and will require its own approach, but we are dedicated to providing the individualized legal support our clients deserve.
Give us a call or contact us online. We’d love the opportunity to learn more about you and to provide you with the resources you need to make informed decisions about your case without feeling pressured to do anything before you’re ready.
