Spinal Cord Injury
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New hope on the horizon
 About
200,000 people living in the United States are paraplegics and quadriplegics
due to injuries sustained to their spinal cords. Every year, about 10,000
more Americans join their unfortunate ranks, frequently incurring their
spinal cord injuries in truck accidents, car accidents, motorcycle accidents,
construction accidents and slips and falls.
Spinal cord injuries result in the loss or limitation
of sensation and movement (paralysis) throughout the body. The extent
of the injury often depends on where the injury takes place along the
spinal cord. The spinal cord has 33 vertebrae and is divided into four
areas, from the neck to the base of the back. These areas are known as
the cervical, thoracic, lumbar, and sacral regions of the spinal cord.
Injuries that occur in the cervical region of the spinal cord (around
the neck) are invariably the most critical, primarily because this region
controls blood flow to the brain and channels impulses and sensations
that allow the brain to interpret and respond to the body. When an injury
to the cervical region occurs, a “disconnect” between the
brain and the rest of the body is often the result.
Spinal cord injuries that occur in the thoracic, lumbar
and sacral regions of the spinal cord are not as severe as cervical injuries,
but this is only in a relative sense. Most spinal cord injuries bring
about life-changing obstacles that result in either paralysis from the
waist down (paraplegia) or the neck down (quadriplegia).
Many people see those with spinal cord injuries as weak
and helpless. Strapped in their wheelchairs without the ability to move,
let alone participate fully in daily life, we often pity spinal cord injury
victims, not knowing that simply surviving a spinal cord injury requires
an inner strength that few of us can truly understand. MHLRT attorneys
have seen this rare strength in many of our clients who have suffered
spinal cord injuries, and it is a strength with which we are always honored
to be associated.
Like so many of our clients, MHLRT spinal cord injury
attorneys have tremendous faith in the possibilities of medical science.
We support the revolutionary initiatives of stem cell research, therapeutic
cloning and other areas of medical research that will someday bring miraculous
remedies to today’s most debilitating injuries and diseases. Along
with uncovering new ways to treat cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, Parkinson's
and heart disease, scientists believe that stem cell research holds the
secrets to healing spinal cord injuries and restoring those whose lives
have been sidelined by them.
MHLRT spinal cord injury attorneys believe that the arrival
of these answers is not a question of “if”, but “when.”
Meanwhile, our job as attorneys is to ensure that our clients can survive
in comfort and financial security until that day arrives. Surprisingly,
accomplishing this is often a difficult challenge. Facing down insurance
companies and protecting our clients’ interests is a tricky and
time consuming process, even in the cases of spinal cord injury, but we’ve
done it successfully since 1946. With so much hope on the horizon, continuing
to serve the long-term interests of spinal cord injury victims is more
important today than ever before.
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