Spinal Injuries From a Workers’ Comp Standpoint
Spinal injuries can have long-lasting effects and require years of treatment, so if you suffer a spinal injury at work, you may need a workers’ compensation lawyer to help you get the money you need to pay for your medical treatment and to support you while you are unable to work.
Spinal injuries are injuries to the vertebrae, the bones of the neck and back. They often involve damage to the spinal cord, which is a component of the central nervous system and which connects the brain to all the nerves in other parts of the body. Therefore, any injury to the spinal cord also affects all parts of the body below the site of the injury. In fact, spinal injuries that involve trauma to the spinal cord are a leading cause of paralysis. Even if you are able to avoid paralysis, spinal injuries often cause chronic pain that makes it difficult or impossible to perform physically demanding manual labor or, in some cases, makes it impossible to work at all. The Omaha workers’ compensation lawyers at Andres Law Offices, PC LLO can help you advocate for yourself when seeking workers’ compensation benefits for a work-related spinal injury.
How Bad are Spinal Injuries?
Breaking your back or your neck is as bad as it sounds. Spinal injuries often require hospitalization, one or more surgeries, and months or years of recovery. If your spinal cord gets injured during a spinal injury, you might suffer some of the following debilitating symptoms:
- Chronic pain
- Muscle spasms or weakness in the affected parts of the body
- Loss of feeling below the site of the injury
- Partial or total paralysis
- Loss of bladder or bowel function
Unfortunately, work injuries are a common cause of spinal injuries. Traffic accidents, work-related and otherwise, are the leading cause of this type of injuries, followed by falls such as one might suffer while working at a warehouse or construction site.
Workers’ Compensation Coverage for Spinal Injuries
By law, your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance must pay your claims arising from injuries that you sustained at work while doing your job; you do not need to prove negligence on your employer’s part in order to get your employer to pay the claim. Your employer must pay for your medical treatment related to the injury. If the injury has permanent effects and you are no longer able to do your previous job, your employer may also be responsible for assigning you to a different role and providing training for that role. If the injury leaves you permanently unable to work, your employer must pay permanent total disability payments. All of this is costly for employers, so people who suffer spinal injuries and other serious injuries often receive pushback from their employers about how much the employer is obligated to pay.
Contact Andres Law Offices, PC LLO About Work-Related Spinal Injuries
An Omaha workers’ compensation lawyer can help you if you sustained a spinal injury at your workplace. Contact Andres Law Offices, PC LLO in Omaha, Nebraska about your case.