Devastating Effects of Spinal Cord Injury: A Legal Viewpoint

Jun 27, 2017

All it takes is a split second for your life to be changed forever.

Accidents that result in spinal cord injury are life-altering, devastating and can have a serious impact on all aspects of the victim’s and the family’s lives.

Such injuries can happen among other things, due to motor-vehicle collisions or slip and fall accidents.

The consequences can be calamitous in terms of the enormous physical, financial and emotional burdens that accompany such situations.

Tragically, statistics prove that most accidents are avoidable and preventable. They occur most often due to someone’s fault or negligence. Under civil laws, the injured are entitled to seek compensation from those responsible for the accident that caused such injuries.

If you or a dear one has sustained spinal cord injury, consult an experienced Toronto personal injury lawyer with expertise and knowledge in this medico-legal area. You may be entitled to compensation.

What Is Spinal Cord Injury?

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage sustained by any part of the spinal cord or the nerves at the end. The human spinal cord is a thick bundle of nerves that pass through the vertebrae of the backbone or spine, starting at the base of the brain and ending at the buttocks. These nerves constitute an information superhighway, running in both directions, transmitting messages between the brain and the rest of the body. The spinal cord is responsible for controlling sensation, strength, motor abilities, control and many other capabilities.

Injuries to the spinal cord result in this superhighway being damaged or shut down. Neural messages fail to pass through and are blocked, resulting in loss of sensation/mobility at the level below the location of the injury. If the spinal cord is not completely severed, some signals may pass through and provide a certain amount of sensation/mobility below the level of injury.

Location and amount of damage determine the areas of the body that experience loss of sensation/mobility.

Nearly 33,000 people live with SCI in Ontario today. It takes between 2-3 years for the victim to achieve optimal independence.

What Are The Costs of SCI?

Studies have shown that the estimated lifetime economic burden on victims of SCI are in the range of $1-3 million if they survive their initial hospitalization.

These costs include the direct and indirect costs that are imposed on the individual, the family, career and society. Direct costs refer to the injury-related expenditure borne by the individual, caregivers and the health-care system, while indirect costs refer to the value of potential losses as a result of work that the victim would have performed, arising out of inability, morbidity or mortality.

We Can Assist

Insurance companies that make the settlement payouts may not always act in good faith. Our free consultation lawyers can assess your case and provide a swift, genuine and comprehensive evaluation. Based on this, we can help you put together a robust compensation claim, backed by a detailed and broad-based life plan that addresses your present and future needs.

We also ensure that your rights and interests are protected. Our no win no fee lawyers advocate your cause.

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Steinmetz & Associates’ Response to COVID-19

We at Steinmetz & Associates continue to monitor the rapidly evolving developments with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic.

We want to assure our clients that although our physical offices are closed, we continue to work on your behalf remotely and are available for any questions or inquiries you may have. We have implemented procedures and technology to enable us to continue to address the needs of our clients.

Ontario Superior Court of Justice operations have been suspended until further notice. Complete information can be found at All civil matters scheduled to be heard on or after Tuesday March 17, 2020 have been adjourned. Plans are being made to address rescheduling any court dates that have been affected. We will work to ensure our clients’ matters are brought forward or rescheduled as soon as the courts begin scheduling dates once again.

We will continue to evaluate the situation on an ongoing basis and hope to return to our offices in the near future.

We wish everyone the best during these difficult times.

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