Have you suffered from a serious back or Spinal Injury following an accident that was not your fault?

The accomplished Spinal Injury Solicitors at Sheldon Davidson Solicitors have helped many clients to get the care and compensation they deserve after suffering severe spinal injuries.

A spinal injury involves damage to any part of the spine causing temporary or permanent changes in sensation, movement, and function below the level of the injury, including paralysis (paraplegia or tetraplegia). Spinal injuries are often serious and debilitating, causing long-term or even lifelong pain, suffering, and loss of amenity.

Whilst the majority of spinal injuries are incurred through road traffic accidents, work accidents, and falls, many are the result of medical negligence, misdiagnosis, or other errors by medical staff.

Whatever the cause, a spinal injury is distressing for both the sufferer and those close to them. On top of the pain and loss of function, there may be emotional and financial impacts resulting from private therapies and lost earnings.

Our highly personalised service is tailored exactly to your needs. With the right support, people who have experienced spinal injuries can live happy and fulfilling lives. As one of Greater Manchester’s leading teams of Spinal Injury Solicitors, we have helped many people with Spinal Injuries to navigate the process of a successful Compensation Claim.

Can I Claim Compensation for my Spinal Injury?

If you or a loved one has incurred a significant spinal injury, either as the result of an accident caused by someone else’s carelessness, you may have grounds for making a compensation claim. We can help. The first step is a free, impartial, and honest consultation during which our trusted Spinal Injury Solicitors will thoroughly examine your grounds for making a Spinal Injury Claim and advise you of the next steps. We work on a no-win, no-fee basis so you will not incur charges upfront, not will there be any charges in the highly unlikely event of your claim proving unsuccessful.

About Spinal Injuries

The spine performs a vital role, connecting the brain with the rest of the body. Together, the brain and the Spinal Cord make up the body's central nervous system, which makes all voluntary and involuntary functions possible – functions that able-bodied people take for granted, like breathing and walking.

Nerve Fibres within the spine are protected by vertebrae (the spine), but in a serious accident, or during surgery, the spine can become damaged, with devastating outcomes.

The higher up the Spinal Cord the damage occurs, the more of the bodily functions are impacted. Despite medical advances, the effects of severe spinal injuries can still be severely life-limiting and therefore life-changing for victims and their families. Simple everyday sensory functions such as speech, touch, temperature control, blood pressure control, sexual function, breathing, and swallowing can be affected by spinal injuries. This means that the sufferer needs ongoing medical care and support from professionals and/or family members.

Spinal injury victims are at risk of developing further health issues, which can sometimes be life-threatening, including:

Respiratory complications
Pressure ulcers, or bedsores
Deep Vein Thrombosis
Chronic Pain
Urinary Tract Infection

In addition to the physical impact, many Spinal Injury sufferers unsurprisingly develop mental health issues. Spinal injury sufferers can often experience episodes of depression

We will support you, not only in securing the maximum financial compensation you deserve, but also by connecting you with people and organisations who can help you adjust and learn to face life with the effects of a spinal injury. With Sheldon Davidson not only do you get an experienced lawyer to fight your corner in court but a genuine partner, who understands your pain and who will do everything in their power to help make life as easy as possible going forward.

What are the Common Causes of Spinal Injury Resulting in a Compensation Claim?

The spine is extremely delicate. Any damage to the spine and the nerve fibres contained within it can interfere with the brain’s ability to communicate with other parts of the body, leading to problems with movement (paralysis), sensation (inability to feel hot or cold), and, sometimes, incontinence.

It is commonly damaged in one of two ways:

Spinal cord trauma injuries

Traumatic spinal cord injuries are usually caused by a sudden blow to the spine that dislocates or fractures vertebrae. Falls from height at work, car accidents, sporting accidents, and violence are the leading causes of traumatic spinal cord injuries.

Damage can be caused by displaced bone fragments, disc material, or ligaments that bruise or tear into spinal cord tissue. It is rare that the spinal cord is completely severed in accidents, but fractures and compression of the vertebrae crush the nerve cells that carry signals up and down the spinal cord between the brain and the rest of the body. Some injuries will allow almost complete recovery. Others will result in complete paralysis from the injury down. The level of compensation for a spinal injury depends on the severity of damage and how it impacts on the victim’s life.

Spinal injury from medical negligence

Negligence in medical settings can lead to spinal injuries in a number of ways:

Delayed or improper diagnosis
Delayed or improper treatment
Surgical malpractice, such as faulty technique or wrong-site surgery
Anaesthesia error leading to an epidural hematoma, causing lifelong spinal cord issues

What are the Categories of Spinal Injury?

Most compensation claims for spinal injuries are judged on the level of pain, suffering, and loss of amenity caused to the claimant. So it’s important to understand the different categories of spinal injury and how they may affect a claim:

‘Complete spinal cord injury’ is when the spinal cord is completely severed or compressed, meaning signals from the brain can no longer travel beyond the point of injury. People with this type of spinal cord injury cannot move or feel anything below the injury. Unlike many other parts of the body, the spinal cord does not have the ability to repair itself if it is damaged, so the loss of all sensory and motor function is permanent.

If a person who’s suffered a spinal injury retains either some feeling or movement or both, they can be said to have an ‘incomplete spinal cord injury’. The American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) established a grading system called the ASIA Impairment Scale to describe the severity of spinal cord injuries.

The system, which is also used in the UK, uses the letters A to E as follows:

ASIA A: complete spinal cord injury with no sensory or motor function

ASIA B: incomplete sensory function with complete loss of motor function

ASIA C: incomplete motor function with some movement, but fewer than half of the muscle groups can lift against gravity with a full range of motion

ASIA D: incomplete motor function with more than half of the muscle groups able to lift against gravity

ASIA E: normal

What are the Steps for Making a Spinal Injury Claim?

Make sure you claim in time

Court proceedings must be issued within three years of you first being aware that you have suffered an injury. On occasion, a Court may decide to extend a time limit, depending on the circumstances of an indiviuals; circumstances. There are other exceptions, e.g. where the claim is for someone who does not have the mental capacity to bring a legal claim themselves.

If a child is injured by negligence, they usually have until their 21st birthday to formally start a claim.

Simply put, seek advice from a specialist Personal Injury Solicitor as soon as possible after your accident.

Choose a Spinal Injury Solicitor

Our trusted lawyers have more than 20 years’ experience of in making successful personal injury claims.

Arrange funding

Legal action for compensation for a personal injury can be expensive, but this is something you will not need to worry about if you choose to have Sheldon Davidson act on your behalf. Our conditional fee agreement – no win, no fee – means that you will not incur any upfront costs, giving you one less thing to worry about.

The outcome (compensation and fees)

If you win your claim, our fees are deducted from the amount of compensation you are awarded. Our fees will vary depending on your claim, but we will discuss this with you at the start and throughout your claim.

If you lose your claim, we will not charge you for the work that we have done on your claim.

At the start of your claim, an insurance policy is taken out to protect you from paying the other side’s legal fees and expenses, such as medical experts’ fees or court fees (known as disbursements) if these cannot be recovered from the other side.

How is a Spinal Injury Compensation Claim valued?

The value of the compensation claim is based on how your spinal injury has affected your life and that of your loved ones, and whether that will change in the future.

This may include (but is not limited to):

Medical costs
Rehabilitation
Adapted accommodation
Support with education or work
Therapy of any sort
On-going care in the home by professionals or family members
Loss of earnings (including for family members who now provide care)
Modifications to vehicles to enable maximum independence for the victim
Mobility aids such as wheelchair, ceiling hoists and any sensory equipment required.

Will you need my medical records?

Yes. Your medical records are critical to our understanding of your back or spinal injury. With your consent, we can obtain them directly from the treatment provider(s).

Obtaining a personal copy of your medical records can also help you to decide whether to begin a compensation claim. Find out more about obtaining your health records on the NHS website.