Medical malpractice
Understanding Permanent Nerve Damage After Spinal Surgery and Your Legal Options
In this post, our medical malpractice attorneys cover the causes, symptoms, management, and legal recourse for permanent nerve damage after spinal surgery.
Specifically, we’ll highlight:
- Symptoms and Causes:
- Potential nerve damage symptoms
- The damage could lead to complete or incomplete spinal cord injuries (SCI) with various degrees of mobility loss.
- Types of Injuries:
- Neurapraxia (temporary loss of motor/sensory function).
- Axonotmesis (damage to the axon causing long-term issues).
- Neurotmesis (severe damage causing complete paralysis).
- Management:
- Medical help: Seek immediate evaluation to identify damage and severity.
- Treatments: Includes physical therapy, medication (e.g., anticonvulsants, antidepressants), nerve stimulation therapies (TENS, spinal cord stimulation), and lifestyle changes.
- Legal Rights:
- Victims of medical negligence may pursue legal action within a two-year statute of limitations in Pennsylvania.
- Lawyers can help recover damages (medical bills, lost income, pain, suffering).
- Legal Process:
- Building a case requires proving negligence (duty of care, breach, causation, damages).
- Options include settlements or trials to ensure maximum compensation and accountability.
Let’s begin.
Types of Permanent Nerve Damage You Could Experience After Spinal Surgery
You could suffer a spinal cord injury (SCI) that can restrict your movement. According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), SCI symptoms can vary based on location and severity of your nerve damage. If you are dealing with nerve damage high on your spinal cord, you could experience paralysis that impacts most or all of your body parts.
An SCI can be considered complete or incomplete. If your injury is complete, you have no nerve communication beneath the injury location. This means you have no control of muscles below this site. Alternatively, with an incomplete SCI, your spinal cord maintains communication with your brain. As such, you maintain some feeling or function under the area where your nerve damage occurred.
Additional Injuries Associated With an SCI
In addition to spinal cord nerve damage, there are three categories of injuries you could experience after spinal surgery:
- Neurapraxia: With this type of injury, you could lose motor and sensory functions for weeks.
- Axonotmesis: Considered to be more serious than neurapraxia, this injury occurs when a nerve’s axon (cell that carries electrical impulses) is damaged. At this point, you could experience pain and loss of motor and sensory functions for a long time.
- Neurotmesis: A neurotmesis injury can disrupt a nerve and its sheath, leading to complete paralysis.
If you are concerned about nerve damage following spinal surgery, seek medical attention. A doctor can perform tests to determine if you are dealing with damage to a nerve and, if so, its severity. Along with this, you could start gathering medical proof that you could use in a personal injury lawsuit against anyone responsible for this damage.
How to Manage Permanent Nerve Damage Due to Spinal Surgery
Do not wait to meet with a doctor if you experience pain or other health issues following spinal surgery. These problems could be signs that you suffered nerve damage. With immediate medical care, you could address such issues before they permanently affect your mobility.
When in doubt about how to manage permanent nerve damage after spine surgery, consult with a doctor. You and your doctor can work together to determine the best course of action to address your health concerns and questions. Follow your doctor’s recommendations and attend follow-up appointments as well. With your doctor’s support and guidance, you are well-equipped to manage your nerve damage and keep it from getting any worse.
Many strategies could help you cope with permanent nerve damage. These include:
Physical Therapy
A physical therapist can develop a personalized program to help you manage pain and stimulate nerve regeneration. This program could include exercises you can use to improve your flexibility and range of motion.
Medication
Per Harvard Medical School, doctors may recommend anticonvulsants or antidepressants as nerve pain medications. Anticonvulsants are often used to alleviate chronic pain. Meanwhile, antidepressants may help address chronic pain that occurs in conjunction with depression symptoms.
Nerve Stimulation Therapies
Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) or spinal cord stimulation may help reduce nerve pain. With TENS, a battery-operated device delivers electrical currents to stimulate nerves near the pain site. Comparatively, spinal cord stimulation involves the implantation of a small device beneath the skin. This device provides electrical impulses that can block pain signals as they travel to the brain.
Lifestyle Changes
It may be beneficial to avoid excessive alcohol consumption or take other measures to improve your health. These could help you speed up the nerve damage healing process or minimize nerve pain.
When to Take Legal Action Due to Permanent Nerve Damage Following Spine Surgery
You have the right to sue for damages if you suffer permanent nerve damage following surgery on your spine. However, the window in which you are allowed to do so is limited. Based on Statutes of Pennsylvania Title 42 Section 5542, the statute of limitations for a personal injury claim is two years. This gives you a maximum of two years from the date you suffer spinal surgery nerve damage to sue for damages. The time frame for filing your lawsuit may not be extended.
In your lawsuit, you could request compensation from a doctor or other healthcare practitioners who contributed to your nerve damage. If you are considering a lawsuit, meet with a medical malpractice lawyer. They could help you receive compensation for many reasons, such as:
- Medical bills
- Lost income
- Pain and suffering
- Loss of enjoyment
Your Attorney Will Work to Demonstrate Negligence for Your Case
Requesting compensation and getting awarded damages are two very different things. It is your responsibility to prove that you are the victim of negligence. To validate this point, your lawyer will search for ways to show that the following elements of negligence were present at the time you got hurt:
- Duty of Care: A medical provider had a legal obligation to perform your spinal surgery in accordance with a predetermined standard of care.
- Breach of Duty of Care: This provider chose not to follow this standard.
- Causation: Due to the provider’s actions, you are now dealing with nerve damage.
- Damages: You face quantifiable and subjective losses as a result of the provider’s actions.
Your lawyer could use medical records, witness statements, and other proof in your lawsuit. They will also consider how the defendant in your case will argue against you. If your attorney prepares a compelling argument, it may be clear to a judge or jury that you should recover damages.
Just because you file a lawsuit does not guarantee you will recover damages. Your lawyer could present your case to a judge or jury. If the court agrees with your attorney’s argument, you may receive compensation. On the other hand, the defendant in your case may offer a settlement. If you approve this proposal, you can close your case outside of the courtroom.
Settling Your Medical Malpractice Case
If the defendant in your medical malpractice lawsuit believes you have a strong case against them, they could offer to settle. You do not have to accept a settlement proposal. If you decline, you will continue with your litigation, and your attorney will continue to help you pursue maximum compensation.
With a settlement, it may be helpful to evaluate the proposal with your lawyer. You can get insights into what can happen if you approve or decline the offer. Ultimately, you have the final say. If an offer falls short of what you want, you can decline it without incurring any penalties.
Bringing your case to trial can help you hold an at-fault party accountable for their negligence. You could recover full damages and force the liable party to rethink how they treat patients in the future. Therefore, your lawsuit could have long-lasting effects on both you and any liable parties.
Get Legal Help With Your Medical Malpractice Case
The medical malpractice lawyers at Lopez McHugh are advocates for patient safety among those who suffer permanent nerve damage after a spinal cord surgery. To date, we have helped our clients recover billions of dollars in damages.
We have the experience, dedication, and resources to help you achieve your desired medical malpractice case results. Request a free case consultation today.
