Long Beach Nerve Injury Attorney
Recovering Compensation for Debilitating Nerve Injuries in Long Beach
Following an accident, we tend to look for the more obvious types of injuries, such as deep cuts and broken bones. However, some injuries may not be as noticeable as they can be masked by adrenaline, pain, and general soreness. Oftentimes, accident victims can suffer debilitating nerve injuries that present themselves as everything from chronic, intense pain to total paralysis. Recovering from nerve damage can take months to years as you suffer through multiple surgeries and physical therapy to regain some control over your body, ultimately leading to expensive medical bills.
If you have suffered nerve damage as a result of someone else’s negligence, then you may be able to pursue compensation in a personal injury claim. But to do so you will have to contend with their insurance company, who will be resistant to paying out proper compensation. Your best bet at receiving the money you need to fully recover is to reach out to a Long Beach nerve injury lawyer at the Law Firm of Joseph H. Low IV. To learn how our lead trial attorney can advocate for your right to compensation, schedule a free consultation at (562) 901-0840 or toll-free at (888) 454-5569.
Understanding Nerve Injuries
Our nerves act as a communication system between our brains and the rest of our body, providing information about everything from physical trauma to temperature to even air pressure. When a nerve gets damaged, the affected area of the body will have difficulty communicating with the brain. This can lead to several different medical conditions, from numbness to pain to a total loss of feeling.
When evaluating the nerve damage you have suffered, it is important to understand the type of nerve that was damaged, which can include:
- Sensory: A sensory nerve controls our bodies’ senses, providing information from our skin and muscles on textures, pressure, temperatures, and damage to our bodies. These nerves effectively determine our pain tolerance.
- Motor: Motor nerves allow us to move our move parts of our body, such as our limbs, and we tend to have voluntary control over them.
- Autonomic: In contrast to motor nerves, autonomic nerves send signals to the brain involuntarily, or automatically, and control our heart rates, breathing patterns, blood pressure, bladder control, and digestion.
Each of these nerves is vital to living a healthy life and when one of them is damaged, we can experience a wide range of symptoms and medical conditions. During an accident, such as a vehicle collision, fall, or exposure to toxic materials, our nerves can be damaged in several different ways, including:
- Stretched: When a nerve is stretched, the protective layers of the cells and inner tissue remain intact, but the overall structure has been pulled beyond its limits. This is often referred to as neurapraxia, which presents itself as a burning sensation. While it can heal relatively quickly, there are severe instances where the pain lasts for weeks to months.
- Compressed: Sometimes referred to as a pinched nerve, compressed nerves have suffered too much pressure, such as during a crush injury or fall, from surrounding bones and muscles. Symptoms can vary in severity, but it is not uncommon to feel chronic pain in the affected area, numbness, tingling, a pins and needles sensation, and muscle weakness.
- Severed: A severed nerve is the most extreme scenario where a nerve’s entire structure has been cut. This prevents the nerve from communicating with the brain, leading to numbness and eventual paralysis. Surgery is often required to promote proper healing, but there is the risk of developing neuroma, or nerve scars, which are quite painful.
Following an accident, it is important to get a full medical check-up with a healthcare professional in order to rule out all possible scenarios. Even if you do not think you are injured, some symptoms can be masked by adrenaline and you do not want to misjudge a nerve injury as general soreness. If your doctor does diagnose nerve damage, then you can begin building a treatment plan to help you fully heal if the damage is not severe enough.
When Nerve Damage Causes Paralysis
Like spinal cord injuries, nerve damage has the possibility of leading to paralysis. The spinal column contains a cluster of nerves that branch out throughout the body and send signals back to the brain. When the nerves within the spine are damaged, a victim can suffer paralysis in several areas of the body, from individual limbs to paralysis below the legs and even below the neck.
However, paralysis can also occur without a spinal cord injury. If a particular branch of your nervous system is damaged in an accident, then there is the chance that that specific set of nerves can stop sending signals to the brain. Sometimes medical treatments can help repair those nerves and restore full control of the body part, but other times the damage can be permanent. Without a way to send signals to and from that body part, you will end up losing full control of it and can suffer permanent paralysis.
What Causes Nerve Damage?
Nerve damage is often the result of intense trauma wherein the affected nerve has become compressed, stretched, or severed. While some injuries are the result of sports injuries or overstressing your body, many are caused by other people’s negligence, which can include:
- Car accidents
- Truck accidents
- Bike accidents
- Motorcycle accidents
- Slip and falls
- Swimming pool accidents
- Defective products
While these are only some of the causes of nerve damage, so long as another individual’s negligent actions caused your injury, you may be able to pursue a personal injury claim against them to cover the cost of your treatment, among other things.
The Cost of a Nerve Injury
While minor nerve injuries can heal with little medical intervention, severe ones lead to costly surgeries and long-term physical therapy. These treatments can last for months to years, sometimes requiring victims to take a life-time’s worth of medication to contend with their various symptoms. However, you are not only limited to covering your medical bills in a personal injury claim.
With the right lawyer, you can pursue any damages related to your injury and accident, including lost wages from taking time off work to recover, property damage, any necessary medical equipment you need if you are left disabled, renovations to your home to make it more accessible, pain and suffering, mental anguish, and loss of enjoyment. When you choose to file a personal injury claim for nerve damage, it is important to work with an experienced Long Beach injury lawyer who will not leave out a single dime in your claim and who can aggressively advocate for proper compensation.
Secure Strong Legal Representation Today
In a perfect world, insurance companies would provide full and proper compensation for our injuries. Sadly, that is not the case. When you attempt to contact an at-fault insurance company about your injuries, they will likely to try to minimize your trauma, devalue your claim, or outright reject it to avoid paying you the money you need to recover. Whether it is auto insurance coverage or a business’s liability policy, these companies are designed to make a profit, often by paying low-ball settlements to accident victims.
But there is help out there. If you choose to work with the Long Beach personal injury attorney at the Law Firm of Joseph H. Low IV, he will provide extensive legal guidance throughout the entirety of your claim. While most personal injury claims are settled out of court, one in ten can go to a jury trial. Luckily for you, Joseph H. Low is an experienced and nationally recognized trial attorney who can advocate for full and proper compensation before a jury. If you suffered nerve injury at the hands of someone else’s negligence, contact our firm at (562) 901-0840 or toll-free at (888) 454-5569 to learn how we can fight for you.