Paralysis
Pittsburgh Lawyers Representing Paralysis Victims
The ability to use one’s arms and legs is one of our most cherished, God-given pleasures. When some event such as a trauma, a medical mistake or infection causes paralysis and takes away that ability, the consequences to the person are devastating.
I’m attorney John Gismondi. My associates and I represent people in Pittsburgh and throughout Pennsylvania who have suffered paralysis as the result of spinal cord injuries suffered in vehicle accidents, construction or industrial accidents, or from medical malpractice. A powerful lawsuit can provide full and complete compensation for you, and it can also send a strong message that will help to prevent some other person from being injured by a similar mistake or accident.
Cause And Treatment Of Paralysis
The most common types of paralysis are paraplegia (inability to move the legs) and quadriplegia (inability to move arms and legs). Any form of paralysis is a devastating injury that affects both the victim and his or her family. Spouses, children and siblings often find themselves in the role of lifetime helpers and caretakers.
As with any spinal cord injury, paralysis can be caused by trauma, infection or medical error. Thus, paralysis can happen as a result of a car accident, an infection such as transverse myelitis, a laceration to the cord during surgery or even the pressure from a ruptured disk. The treatment that has the best chance of succeeding depends on the cause of the paralysis. For example, if it is caused by pressure on the spinal cord from a collection of blood (epidural hematoma), then the best treatment is to drain the blood. If the cause is a ruptured disk, the sooner that surgery can be done to relieve the pressure caused by the disk, the better the chance of recovery. If the cause is infection, prompt use of steroids or other drugs offer the best chance of avoiding permanent harm.
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A Lawsuit Provides Compensation … And More
We wish that we could turn back the hands of time and undo what has happened to you or your family. Unfortunately, no lawyer has that power. However, with a successful lawsuit we can reduce the burdens you face by obtaining full and complete compensation for everything that you have experienced as a result of your injury or the death of a family member … mounting medical bills, lost wages, physical pain and suffering, mental anguish, and perhaps most importantly, the loss of the relationship and companionship of a loved one.
We will also fight for compensation to cover everything that you may face in the future. Paralysis cases often involve long-term needs for things such as future surgeries, specialized equipment, personal attendant care and much more. Our goal is to provide full compensation for all of those needs so that you or your loved one can enjoy the very best quality of life possible and make the most of a difficult situation. After all, that is the least that you are entitled to.
Aside from providing you with full and complete compensation, a lawsuit can do one other very important thing: It can force changes to be made by the doctor or hospital who caused the injury to you or a loved one so that no other person or family has to go through what you have.
Our Experience With Paralysis Cases
Our lawyers represented a retiree from Shaler who went to the emergency room at UPMC Passavant after a fall at home. After an X-ray and CT scan were taken of the man’s neck, doctors told him that everything was fine and sent him home. However, within a few hours of leaving the hospital, our client was a paraplegic.
The emergency room doctors failed to see that he had an unstable fracture of his cervical spine. The fracture shifted and caused a permanent spinal cord injury. By permitting him to walk out of the emergency room with a fractured neck, the hospital consigned our client to a wheelchair for the rest of his life. His wife had to quit her job and she now takes care of her husband at home on a full-time basis. Our lawyers obtained a large seven-figure award for him and his wife.
Over the past 30-years, we have represented a variety of other people who have suffered paralysis, including:
- An award well over a million dollars for a young man from Pittsburgh’s North Side who was rendered quadriplegic as a result of an automobile accident involving a drunk driver.
- A high million-dollar recovery for a retiree from Pittsburgh who was made paraplegic because the doctor in the emergency room “missed” a cervical fracture on an X-ray and allowed the man to leave the hospital without treatment. His wife became his caregiver for life.
- A recovery of nearly $1 million for a young toddler from Erie who went into the emergency room with inflammation in her spinal cord (a condition known as transverse myelitis), which was never discovered by the doctors until it was too late.
Call Us Now | Free Consultation
If you or a loved one have become paraplegic or quadriplegic due to someone else’s carelessness, call us now for a free consultation toll free at 1-888-529-1255. And remember, we always return phone calls. Our law office is in Pittsburgh and our attorneys handle personal injury cases throughout Pennsylvania.
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