Spinal Cord Injury Lawyers in Chicago

A spinal cord injury can change almost every part of a person’s life. Movement, sensation, breathing, bladder control, bowel control, sexual function, work, independence, transportation, housing, and daily care can all be affected. Some people regain function over time, but others face permanent paralysis, chronic pain, repeated medical complications, and lifelong care needs.

From its Chicago and Arlington Heights offices, Sexner Injury Lawyers LLC helps injured people and their loved ones pursue claims involving devastating spinal cord trauma throughout Illinois. These injuries may result from careless drivers, hazardous property conditions, construction incidents, medical mistakes, violent conduct, or other preventable events. To discuss an injury caused or worsened by another party’s negligence, call (312) 243-9922 for a free consultation.

Our Chicago spinal cord injury lawyers investigate what caused the trauma, who may be responsible, what medical evidence proves the injury, and how the injury will affect the rest of the person’s life.

What Is a Spinal Cord Injury?

The spinal cord is a long column of nerve tissue that transmits signals between the brain and the body. A traumatic injury may result from direct harm to the cord or from fractured vertebrae, displaced bones, damaged discs, torn ligaments, swelling, bleeding, or pressure within the spinal canal. Depending on the location and severity of the damage, the injury may impair movement, sensation, strength, coordination, and other bodily functions below the affected area.

A spinal cord injury is often a catastrophic injury because it can require emergency care, surgery, rehabilitation, assistive devices, home changes, nursing care, and long-term medical support.

Complete and Incomplete Spinal Cord Injuries

Physicians classify spinal cord injuries in part by determining whether nerve signals can still travel past the damaged area. With a complete injury, sensory and voluntary motor function are lost below the level of trauma. With an incomplete injury, some nerve communication remains, although the injured person may still experience substantial weakness, sensory loss, pain, limited movement, or other serious disabilities.

The location of the damage is also critical. Trauma involving the cervical portion of the spine can interfere with the hands, arms, torso, legs, breathing, and pelvic functions. Injuries in lower portions of the spinal cord may affect fewer areas of the body, but they can still cause severe restrictions involving mobility, sensation, and bodily control.

Paraplegia, Tetraplegia, and Quadriplegia

Paraplegia usually refers to paralysis affecting the legs and lower body. Tetraplegia, also called quadriplegia, usually refers to paralysis affecting the arms, hands, trunk, legs, and pelvic organs. These injuries may require extensive rehabilitation, mobility equipment, caregiver assistance, and lifelong planning.

The medical terms do not fully capture the personal impact. A spinal cord injury can affect a person’s ability to work, drive, dress, bathe, cook, sleep, parent, travel, socialize, and live independently.

Common Causes of Spinal Cord Injuries

Spinal cord trauma can occur in many ways. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center reports that, among traumatic spinal cord injuries reported since 2015, motor vehicle crashes rank first and falls rank second as leading causes. Other causes include violence, sports, recreation, work incidents, and medical or surgical injuries.

Car accidents, including rear-end, head-on, rollover, and side-impact crashes
Motorcycle accidents involving direct impact, ejection, or roadway trauma
Truck accidents involving high-force collisions with commercial vehicles
Slip, trip, and fall accidents on unsafe property
Construction accidents, falls from heights, crush injuries, and equipment incidents
Sports injuries, diving injuries, assaults, gunshot wounds, and other violent trauma
Medical malpractice, including surgical, anesthesia, diagnostic, or emergency-care errors

Types of Spine Trauma That May Damage the Spinal Cord

Several injury mechanisms can harm the spinal cord. The trauma may involve the cord directly, or it may involve fractured vertebrae, dislocated bones, herniated discs, swelling, bleeding, compression, torn ligaments, or penetrating injury.

Compression injuries

A compression injury can occur when force crushes or compresses the spinal column. Broken vertebrae, disc material, swelling, or bone fragments may press on the spinal cord and interrupt nerve signals.

Flexion and hyperextension injuries

Flexion injuries can occur when the spine bends forward with violent force. Hyperextension injuries can occur when the neck or back is forced backward. These injuries may damage vertebrae, discs, ligaments, and the spinal cord.

Rotation injuries

Rotation injuries can occur when the body twists during a crash, fall, or impact. The twisting force can injure spinal ligaments, discs, vertebrae, nerve roots, or the spinal cord.

Penetrating injuries

Gunshot wounds, knife wounds, metal fragments, vehicle parts, construction materials, or other objects may penetrate the spinal canal and cause permanent nerve damage.

Symptoms and Warning Signs After a Possible Spinal Cord Injury

A possible spinal cord injury requires urgent medical attention. Some symptoms appear immediately, while others develop as swelling, bleeding, or inflammation increases after the trauma.

Weakness, paralysis, or loss of movement
Numbness, tingling, burning, or loss of sensation
Severe pain or pressure in the head, neck, back, or spine
Loss of bladder or bowel control
Difficulty walking, standing, balancing, or coordinating movement
Trouble breathing, coughing, or clearing the lungs
Spasms, exaggerated reflexes, or involuntary movements
Changes in sexual function or sensitivity
A twisted neck, unnatural back position, or visible spinal deformity

Spinal trauma may also occur with a traumatic brain injury, broken bones, internal injuries, nerve damage, or other serious trauma.

How Spinal Cord Injuries Are Diagnosed

Emergency doctors may evaluate movement, sensation, breathing, responsiveness, pain, weakness, and the history of the accident. Diagnostic testing may include X-rays, CT scans, MRI studies, neurological exams, and specialist review. MRI may be especially important when doctors need to evaluate the spinal cord, discs, blood clots, swelling, or other soft-tissue problems.

A legal claim may require careful review of emergency records, ambulance reports, imaging studies, radiology reports, operative reports, neurology notes, rehabilitation records, and later medical opinions. In some cases, the timing of diagnosis and treatment may also matter if delayed care worsened the injury.

Medical Treatment and Rehabilitation

Spinal cord injury treatment may begin at the accident scene with immobilization and emergency transport. Hospital care may involve breathing support, shock prevention, medication, surgery, traction, spinal stabilization, intensive care, and prevention of secondary complications.

Rehabilitation may include physical therapy, occupational therapy, respiratory therapy, psychological support, pain management, bowel and bladder management, wheelchair training, mobility training, home modifications, assistive technology, and caregiver education. A serious case should consider not only current bills, but also lifetime care needs.

Long-Term Complications and Daily-Life Effects

A spinal cord injury can create medical and practical challenges long after the first hospital stay. Some complications can be life-threatening if not monitored carefully.

Pressure injuries and skin breakdown
Urinary tract infections, kidney problems, and bladder-management issues
Bowel-management problems
Blood clots and circulation problems
Respiratory complications
Chronic nerve pain, muscle spasms, and stiffness
Autonomic dysreflexia in some higher-level injuries
Depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress, and loss of independence
Sexual function, fertility, and relationship challenges
Need for wheelchairs, braces, lifts, ramps, modified vehicles, or home care

Because these needs can last for decades, spinal cord injury cases often require life-care planning, vocational evaluation, future medical-cost analysis, and testimony from medical and rehabilitation experts.

Who May Be Responsible for a Spinal Cord Injury?

The responsible party depends on how the injury happened. A negligent driver may be responsible after a crash. A property owner may be responsible after an unsafe fall. A contractor may be responsible after a construction incident. A doctor or hospital may be responsible if medical negligence caused or worsened the spinal injury.

Potentially responsible parties may include:

Negligent drivers, trucking companies, rideshare drivers, or commercial vehicle operators
Property owners, landlords, businesses, maintenance companies, or snow-removal contractors
Construction contractors, subcontractors, equipment companies, or jobsite managers
Hospitals, surgeons, emergency departments, radiologists, or other medical providers
Manufacturers of defective vehicles, equipment, ladders, safety devices, or products
Individuals who commit assaults or other violent acts

A complete investigation should identify every party that created, contributed to, failed to correct, or failed to warn about the danger.

Evidence That Can Help Prove a Spinal Cord Injury Claim

Spinal cord injury cases often require both liability evidence and medical evidence. The legal team must prove how the injury happened and how the trauma caused the spinal cord damage.

Police reports, crash reports, jobsite reports, incident reports, or property reports
Photographs and video of the scene, vehicles, equipment, stairs, floors, or hazards
Surveillance footage, dashcam footage, bodycam footage, or nearby business video
Witness statements and employee statements
Ambulance records, emergency-room records, imaging, radiology reports, and surgical records
Neurology, neurosurgery, orthopedic, rehabilitation, and pain-management records
Life-care plans, vocational evaluations, wage records, and future-care projections
Insurance information, contracts, inspection records, maintenance records, and safety policies

Early action is important because videos can be deleted, vehicles repaired, equipment moved, property hazards corrected, witnesses lost, and electronic records overwritten.

Compensation in a Spinal Cord Injury Case

Compensation should reflect the full impact of the injury, not only the first hospital bill. A spinal cord injury can require lifelong treatment, equipment, supervision, transportation changes, home changes, and lost future income.

A claim may seek compensation for:

Emergency care, hospitalization, surgery, medication, and specialist treatment
Rehabilitation, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and psychological care
Wheelchairs, braces, lifts, ramps, hospital beds, modified bathrooms, and home modifications
Past and future lost wages, reduced earning capacity, and loss of employment opportunities
In-home care, nursing support, transportation, and future medical needs
Pain, suffering, disability, disfigurement, emotional distress, and loss of normal life
Loss of independence, loss of mobility, and impact on family relationships

If a spinal cord injury results in death, surviving family members may need to evaluate a wrongful death claim.

Workplace Spinal Cord Injuries

Some spinal cord injuries occur while the injured person is working. A workplace spinal injury may involve workers’ compensation, a third-party injury claim, or both. For example, a worker injured by a fall, collapsing scaffold, unsafe machinery, subcontractor negligence, or vehicle incident may have a workers’ compensation claim and a separate claim against a responsible third party.

Our workers’ compensation lawyers can help evaluate which claims may apply and how those claims interact.

Illinois Deadlines and Comparative Fault

Illinois generally gives injured people two years to file many personal injury lawsuits. Some cases may involve shorter or different deadlines, including cases involving government defendants, minors, disability, wrongful death, medical malpractice, workers’ compensation, or unusual facts.

Illinois also follows a modified comparative-fault rule. If the injured person is found more than 50% responsible, recovery may be barred. If the person is 50% or less responsible, damages may be reduced by the percentage of fault. Insurance companies may try to shift blame after crashes, falls, workplace incidents, and other accidents, so evidence preservation matters.

Additional Medical Information About Spinal Cord Injuries

For general medical education, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke explains spinal cord injury symptoms, types, and diagnosis. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center publishes information about traumatic spinal cord injury causes and long-term issues. Mayo Clinic also describes spinal cord injury diagnosis and treatment. These medical sources do not replace care from a treating doctor or legal advice from an attorney.

Frequently Asked Questions About Spinal Cord Injury Cases

Is every spine injury a spinal cord injury?

No. A person can have a back injury, herniated disc, fracture, or soft-tissue injury without damage to the spinal cord itself. A spinal cord injury involves damage that affects nerve communication between the brain and the body.

Can an incomplete spinal cord injury still support a serious claim?

Yes. Incomplete injuries may still cause weakness, numbness, pain, bladder problems, mobility limits, sexual dysfunction, work restrictions, and long-term medical needs. The value of the case depends on the evidence and the impact on the injured person’s life.

What if doctors do not know the long-term prognosis yet?

That is common early in a spinal cord injury case. The medical outlook may become clearer after swelling decreases, neurological exams are repeated, surgery is completed, and rehabilitation begins. A legal claim should account for uncertainty and future care needs.

What if the insurance company says I had a prior back problem?

Prior spine problems do not automatically defeat a claim. The issue is whether the accident caused a new injury, worsened a prior condition, or changed the person’s function, symptoms, treatment needs, and daily life.

How much does it cost to speak with Sexner Injury Lawyers LLC?

The consultation is free. If our firm accepts your case, attorney fees are collected only if we obtain compensation for you.

Speak With a Spinal Cord Injury Lawyer in Chicago

After a spinal cord injury, prompt legal action can be important for securing records, identifying responsible parties, and documenting future medical and financial needs. Sexner Injury Lawyers LLC can evaluate the circumstances surrounding the injury and help you understand the civil claims that may be available.

Speak with our Chicago spinal cord injury lawyers by calling (312) 243-9922 or contacting us online. The consultation is free.