A spinal cord injury, or SCI, occurs when the nerves within the spinal canal are damaged. The results are often catastrophic, as it is the spinal cord that transmits messages between the brain and systems that control the body’s sensory, motor, and automatic functions. As an SCI often hinders the cord’s ability to carry these messages, victims may suffer total or partial loss of movement and sensation. Often they experience significant complications as well, including incontinence and bladder infections, respiratory problems (often requiring use of a ventilator), muscle atrophy, osteoporosis, and gallbladder and renal stones. Note that the spinal cord does not have to be severed in order for a loss of functioning to occur. It only has to be fractured.

Car wrecks and other motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of spinal cord injuries. Other causes include acts of violence, falls, and sports injuries. Diseases such as polio, spina bifida, and Friedreich’s ataxia have also resulted in spinal cord injury.

One of the most troubling aspects of spinal cord injury is their prevalence. In the United States alone, some 250,000 individuals have suffered an SCI, according to the University of Alabama National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center. Each year, approximately 11,000 new injuries occur. Perhaps even more disturbing is who suffers these injuries: 56 percent occur in individuals between the ages of 16 and 30. And the average age of an SCI victim is just 31.

Spinal cord injuries are devastating on many levels. Even victims who ultimately are able to adjust to the almost unimaginable physical and emotional damage find themselves battling an enormous financial burden. The statistics are sobering: The average first-year expenses for a quadriplegic are $417,000, according to the University of Alabama National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center. Lifetime costs for quadriplegics injured at age 25 average some $1.35 million. Even those less severely injured are often unable to return to work: The unemployment rate for SCI victims eight years after their injury is 63 percent.

A spinal cord injury case can be a highly complex lawsuit. For one thing, there are the medical aspects to understand, and explain to juries. And because many SCIs are the result of someone else’s wrongdoing (particularly in motor vehicle accidents), the elements of negligence often must be proven as well. Top-tier experts need to be found and properly used to establish both medical and financial elements of the case. And all the while, emotions – and stakes – run high. No matter how talented the lawyer, there is just one way to master these cases: by trying them constantly. At Mary Alexander & Associates, we’ve been fighting – and winning – spinal cord cases for more than a quarter of a century, obtaining significant, even multimillion-dollar, recoveries. We have the technical background to understand the science and the courtroom skills to make our case. Leveraging decades of experience, we know the tactics and strategies, too. But most of all, we know how to win, getting our clients the answers and accountability they deserve.

At Mary Alexander & Associates, we handle spinal cord injury cases on a contingent-fee basis. That means the risk is all ours: You pay us only if we are able to obtain a recovery, either via a jury award or a settlement. If we are unable to recover anything, you pay us nothing. Expenses – which can be substantial when medical and financial experts are involved – work the same way. We pay all costs of the litigation and get reimbursed only if we successfully conclude the case. In short, it may be your lawsuit, but it’s always our risk. That’s why you can be assured that if we take your case, it’s because we fully intend to win it.