The spinal cord is a collection of nerves which runs from the brain through the spinal column to the rest of the body. It is these nerves which control how we move, the sensation of touch and autonomic functions, such as breathing.
What is a spinal cord injury and how is it caused by accidents?
A spinal cord injury (‘SCI’) may inhibit or prevent a nerve signal passing through, so, for example, impacting your sense of touch or movement.
The nerves that branch out at each vertebral level carry out specific functions. Due to how the nerves branch off the spinal cord, if the injury is higher up the spinal cord and closer to the brain, the greater the impact of the injury on your function. The lower down the spine, the less impact the injury has on your function.
Sometimes an injury to the spine will fracture a vertebra or damage the soft tissue between the vertebrae. However, if there is no damage to nerves inside the spinal column, whilst you may have a spinal injury, you will have fortunately avoided a spinal cord injury.
Spinal cord injuries have some basic medical categorisations. Tetraplegia is when there is an impact on all of your limbs, and paraplegia is when only the legs are affected. A complete SCI results in no muscle function or voluntary movement below the injury level; an incomplete SCI leaves some muscle function.
You may have tetraparesis, a muscle weakness in all limbs, or paraparesis, muscle weakness only in the legs.
Spinal cord injuries can happen in a number of ways. In the cases of trauma, it is when enough force is applied to damage the spine, so road traffic incidents, falls from height, and assaults can all cause a spinal cord injury.
The legal process for spinal cord injury claims
The most important step to start a spinal cord injury claim is to contact a specialist solicitor who is experienced in helping people with spinal cord injury claims.
Your lawyer must understand your spinal cord injury and the specific issues that you will face. So, it's important to manage your bowel and bladder function, maintain skin integrity, and be aware of the risks of developing autonomic dysreflexia and syringomyelia.
They should also be aware of the likely risk of reduced life expectancy and the importance of advising you on claiming periodical payments.
As a trusted legal partner of the Spinal Injuries Association, our lawyers understand all these issues.
Your lawyer should explain in detail what to expect, but this will involve contacting the person you consider responsible for causing your injury. Their representative, usually an insurer, will then have to decide whether they accept responsibility for your injury.
Meanwhile, whilst they investigate, it is really important for your lawyer is proactive in arranging your early rehabilitation under the Rehabilitation Code.
This involves instructing an independent case manager to coordinate your immediate therapeutic needs. This is because early, good-quality rehabilitation can make a significant difference to your overall recovery.
Your lawyer should also be building the evidence needed to establish the value of your claim for your injuries and their impact on your life. This will include knowing not only which type of medical and other experts to instruct, but also which ones are best in providing evidence.
How is compensation calculated for spinal cord injuries?
There are two broad categories of compensation: general damages and special damages.
General damages
Often mean the award for pain, suffering and loss of amenity, or 'PSLA'. PSLA is assessed by reviewing all of the expert medical evidence and the claimant’s own witness statement, followed by an examination of recent court judgments involving spinal cord injuries. There is no single correct amount of PSLA, as no two cases are identical. An assessment will give a likely range of what a judge may award if the case were to be heard in court.
The Judicial College also issues guidelines which categorise bands of PSLA awards for various types of injury, depending on their severity. These now provide a starting point when assessing PSLA, but it is still important to review the recent court judgments. This is especially so when someone has multiple injuries which overlap in their impact.
Special damages
Compensate for someone’s past and future financial losses. These could be lost earnings and pension; case management, medication, treatment and therapies; aids and equipment; suitable accommodation and adaptations, etc. What can be recovered will vary from case to case, depending on the individual circumstances and the evidence. In spinal cord injury claims, the special damages claim is bigger than the general damages award.
Ongoing care and support for people with spinal cord injuries
With a spinal cord injury claim, there will be an ongoing need for equipment like wheelchairs and hoists, as well as care, especially in the future when you may need more help transferring.
If family members or friends provide this care, it can be recovered as part of the claim based on a so-called gratuitous rate, which is a discount of the professional care rate of pay. If your carer had to give up work to look after you, then we can sometimes assess their help based on their lost income instead; it all depends on the circumstances.
However, if the care is provided on a professional basis by trained carers, then you should be advised to claim these costs with a Periodical Payment Order (‘PPO’). In simple terms, a court using this approach will set the annual amount to be paid for your care, state when it may change (say in 10 years, if your care needs are expected to increase then), and the relevant inflation index to increase the annual payments. This approach gives you certainty that the money will not run out.
This information is for guidance purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. We recommend you seek legal advice before acting on any information given.
