Paralysis Due to Spinal Cord Injuries from New York Medical Malpractice

Spinal Cord Injuries Causing Paralysis Due to New York Medical Malpractice

One of the more serious types of New York medical malpractice is negligence in treating, caring for, or otherwise performing a back or spinal surgery.  This can result in very serious spinal cord injuries which can lead to complete paralysis of a person for the rest of his or her life.  There are many reasons why a spinal cord injury could happen due to medical malpractice, but many of them are completely avoidable with the proper exercise of care and caution in the treatment of the patient.  As a Kingston medical malpractice lawyer, I know that spinal cord injuries can be some of the toughest injuries for an individual or family to overcome.

Understanding the Spinal Cord

The spinal cord and brain make up the central nervous system.  The brain is the control center, which sends messages to the rest of the body, as well as receiving and encoding messages from the body.  The spinal cord is the message superhighway, which takes messages from the extremities and sends them up and down to the brain.  

The spinal cord itself is very soft and vulnerable to injury.  It is spongey and mushy, not quite jelly-like but similar.  It is protected and housed in the spine, which is an array of stacked vertebrae.  These are very strong bones which protect the spinal cord which is housed in the middle of them.  There are five parts of the spine, which are the cervical spine (neck), thoracic spine (mid back), lumbar spine (lower back), sacrum (hips/pelvis), and coccyx (tailbone).

Spinal Cord Injuries Due to New York Medical Malpractice

There are two main types of spinal cord injuries.  The first is an incomplete spinal cord injury which is damage to the spinal cord which typically impairs its ability to send or receive messages, including for motor function or sensation.  The second type is a complete spinal cord injury, which is when the spinal cord is severed after a certain level in the back and results in permanent motor loss or sensation loss.

The ways that the spinal cord could sustain these types of injuries due to New York medical malpractice includes the following:

• Spinal fusion surgeries which are improperly performed;
• Disc calcification surgeries which are improper performed;
• Anesthesia errors such as improper perfusion (maintenance of the blood pressure) during a surgery;
• Fall risk patients that are not protected and fall on their neck;
• Hospital drops a patient during a transfer;
• Herniated disc surgeries which result in spinal cord damage;
• Nerve ablation surgeries which injury the spinal cord; and 
• Many other types of surgeries.

If a healthcare provider causes a spinal cord injury, he or she should be liable to a victim.  After all, a victim may have a lifetime of personal injuries due to the spinal cord injury.  This means a lifetime of expenses due to medical care and treatment caused by the negligence.  

But what do you think?  I would love to hear from you!  Leave a comment or I also welcome your phone call on my toll-free cell at 1-866-889-6882 or you can drop me an e-mail at jfisher@fishermalpracticelaw.com.  You are always welcome to request my FREE book, The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Malpractice Victims, at the home page of my website at www.protectingpatientrights.com.