North Carolina Wrongful Death Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer

Unlike other forms of trauma, a spinal cord injury does not act in a linear and predictable series of events, nor is it confined to one area of the body. As it connects the brain to the rest of the body, spinal cord damage can occur suddenly, resulting in someone losing the ability to move, feel, or even function normally. Families can seek the expertise of an experienced North Carolina wrongful death and spinal cord injury attorney to help untangle all the legal challenges they will face from that point onward.

According to the World Health Organization, individuals suffering from spinal cord injuries are at a risk of dying 2 to 5 times sooner than the average person. Once the tragedy has taken place, family members are left with enormous medical bills while everyone still believed that the recovery could take place

What a Wrongful Death Claim Can Recover After a Spinal Cord Injury

Cases of spinal cord injury usually require complicated medical treatment before the death of the patient. According to the law in North Carolina, surviving family members can choose to gain total financial compensation for both monetary losses and emotional damages.

Pre-Death Medical Treatment Expenses

If the victim survives for a while after the accident, they will require serious treatment in the ICU, surgeries, and ventilator support. The victim’s estate can recover the medical bills incurred in the process, so the rest of the estate does not get drained of funds for medical purposes.

Final Arrangements and Funeral Expenses

The family can fully claim all the funeral expenses paid for the deceased. An average funeral in North Carolina costs more than $8,000, while some direct burials may cost between $1,200, and $1,600, while the basic cremation service costs around $1,000.

Transportation and Repatriation Logistics

If someone dies due to an accident in another place, it may take a lot of money to bring the person back to his/her home. Compensation claims should cover the transportation costs that are between $1 and $4 per specific mile, service charges from $500 to $5,000, and international repatriation expenses, which can exceed $10,000.

Lost Lifetime Income and Support

The courts determine the total amount of money that the deceased might have earned during his or her lifetime. This money compensates the families of the deceased who relied on that person’s earnings.

Prolonged Pain, Suffering, and Diminished Quality

Spinal injury victims suffer from extreme pain, paralysis, and loss of independence for days, months, or years until they die. The law allows victims to claim compensation because of the length of time during which they had to suffer.

Loss of Guidance, Companionship, and Relationship

Non-economic damages refer to the emotional distress or harm suffered by the family members of the deceased. The compensation also takes into account the fact that the parents c

What Are Spinal Cord Injuries?

Spinal cord injury (SCI) is any injury resulting from trauma to the spinal cord, a nerve bundle that runs along the spine, which is instrumental in sending nerve impulses from the brain to the rest of the body. An SCI can occur when trauma damages the nerve fibers of the spine, preventing the brain from being able to communicate with the body below the injury site. This disruption may lead to loss of sensation, loss of movement, and impairment of involuntary bodily functions.

How Spinal Cord Injuries Typically Happen

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke lists traffic accidents and falls as the primary causes of spinal cord injury in the United States; however, injuries in North Carolina often happen in other circumstances, including acts of violence, gunshots, sports accidents, accidents at workplaces, surgical mistakes, and diseases affecting the spine.

 What Diseases Can Cause Spinal Cord Injuries?

Certain diseases have the potential to cause damage to the spinal cord. These diseases and disorders include the following:

• Cancer
• Tumors either in or around the spine
• Osteoporosis
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Arthritis
• Spinal Stenosis
• Inflammation in or around the spinal cord
• Diseases that cause blood loss

What Are the Symptoms of a Spinal Cord Injury?

The symptoms of a spinal cord injury depend on the location and severity of the injury. The most severe injuries affect the body’s ability to control breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, the bladder, and regulation of the bowels.

Generally speaking, the symptoms will occur below the site of the injury. For example, damage to the lumbar spine may result in paraplegia (paralysis of the legs), while damage to the cervical spine would cause quadriplegia (paralysis of the arms and legs).

Paralysis is typically the main symptom that people think of when they hear about spinal cord injuries, but there are other symptoms as well, such as the following:

• Partial or total loss of movement
• Loss of sensation
• Loss of bladder and bowel control
• Loss of sexual function
• Weakness in the lower half of the body
• Difficulty breathing: Victims may require a ventilator to breathe
• Nerve pain and damage
• Chronic pain
• Headaches
• Muscle pain
• Loss of fertility
• Increased risk of infection, including pneumonia, which is usually associated with respirator use
• Personality changes and changes in mood

What Are the Types of Spinal Cord Injuries?

A spinal cord injury can be either complete or incomplete.

A complete spinal cord injury means that the damage to the spinal cord is permanent. An incomplete spinal cord injury is partial damage to the cord.

Some injuries result in a total loss of movement and sensation below the injury, while other injuries leave the victims with partial sensation and partial function.

What Are the Most Common Causes of Death After a Spinal Cord Injury?

Victims of spinal cord injuries statistically have a reduced life expectancy. The most common causes of death after a spinal cord injury are as follows:

• Respiratory problems
• Circulatory issues, including cerebrovascular and cardiovascular diseases
• Neoplasms
• Urogenital problems, especially urinary tract infections
• Digestive complications, typically ulcers, liver failure, or bowel obstructions or perforations
• Sepsis – an infection that has reached the bloodstream
• Suicide
• Self-harm that may have been accidental, such as medication overdoses, falls, and drowning
• Crime or abuse
• Additional accidents

How Long Do You Have to File a Claim?

According to N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-53(4), North Carolina has implemented a strict two-year statute of limitations for wrongful death lawsuits. The two-year counting period begins from the day of death rather than the day of the accident.

Nonetheless, there is a significant legal challenge in the event that the victim survived for a long time before his or her death. As wrongful death cases rely on the initial injury, the case can proceed only if the injury that triggered the lawsuit was still actionable at the time of the victim’s demise. Under North Carolina law, normal personal injury lawsuits expire after three years. Therefore, if three years pass after the injury occurred without a lawsuit being initiated, the right of action in respect of the personal injury case also becomes unavailable even though the two years since the event of death have not passed.

How Will a Wrongful Death Attorney Help With My Spinal Cord Injury Lawsuit?

A wrongful death attorney will be able to help you understand the timelines for filing a claim, and they will discuss your legal rights and options with you.

At Tatum & Atkinson: The Heavy Hitters, we listen to fully understand your unique circumstances and needs. We are dedicated to discovering every detail that will assist in achieving the highest possible financial compensation for your losses in order to help your family.

We work together to collect every piece of evidence to build a case that fully covers all the expenses you have incurred as well as the future losses you will have to endure due to the loss of your loved one.

We are fully aware that there is no amount of money that will make up for the loss of your family member. Our desire for you is to ease the financial burden that comes with such a tragedy.

Many of our clients are able to feel a sense of closure after the lawsuit has been settled. Holding the person or company responsible for causing your loved one’s death will hopefully also make necessary changes happen in order to prevent a similar situation from happening again.

Contact a North Carolina Wrongful Death Spinal Cord Injury Law Firm for Help

If a family member experienced a devastating spinal cord accident due to the carelessness of someone else and died from it, at Tatum & Atkinson, we have more than 65 years of combined experience to make the strongest case for you. 

Here, we are known as the Heavy Hitters because we demand maximum compensation and provide you with honest information about what you can do.

Call (800) LAW-0804 today and schedule an appointment for a free consultation.