Lumbar Spine Injury Compensation
Lumbar Spine Injury Compensation
The effects of a spinal cord injury can be devastating and debilitating. Even when the spinal cord injury does not cause full body paralysis or paralysis of one region of the body, there is a high probability that the individual will suffer one form of impairment or the other. This can be speech impairment, reduced mobility, sexual, bladder and bowel function issues.
The spine is made up of 33 vertebrae which surround the nerve tissues of the spinal cord, muscles and ligaments acting like a kind of scaffold for the upper body.
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal injuries are categorised on the basis of their location from the first vertebra (C1) down to the last (S5), as follows:
- Cervical Spinal Cord Injuries – C1-C7
- Thoracic Spinal Cord Injuries – T1-T12
- Lumbar Spinal Cord Injuries – L1-L5
- Sacral Spinal Injuries – S1-S5
Lumbar Spine Damage
The lumbar spine is situated in the lower back, just between the thoracic spine and the sacral spine. It is made up of five vertebrae (L1-L5).
When damage occurs at the lumbar region of the spine, there is a high likelihood of impairment to the function of the legs, hips, groin, lower abdominal muscles, the bowel and bladder.
Depending on the severity of the damage, whether it is complete or incomplete, the injury may affect only one or both sides of the body. Where the injury is complete and severe, it means that the nerves have been fully compromised and that electrical impulses can no longer travel further down the spine. Whereas in an incomplete injury, some nerve impulses may still be able to travel along the spinal cord past the point of the injury with some level of impairment.
In most cases however, the sufferer of the injury may not result in total loss of independence. The patient may still be able to walk short distances and control a wheelchair unaided. In other cases, the patient will suffer significant mobility impairment, muscle weakness and chronic nerve pain.
One of the most serious complications of a lumbar spine injury is the Cauda equina syndrome (CES) arising when there is sudden and severe pressure on the nerves of the lower back. This leads to severe back pain and when a surgery is not done urgently, the injury can be permanent. Consequences of CES include urinary incontinence, reduced bowel function, impaired sexual function and paralysis of the legs.
If you or your loved one has suffered severe back injury resulting from spinal injuries, you may be able to make a back-injury claim and if your claims are successful, you will receive a deserved back injury compensation. Making a claim for spinal injury requires that you contact an expert spinal injury claims solicitor to assist you make your spinal injury claims.
How Do Lumbar Spinal Cord Injuries Occur?
Spine injuries can result from different types of incident and they include the following
- Falls from height
- Home accidents including Slips and trips
- Accidents in the workplace
- Sports accidents
- Road traffic accidents
- Cycling accidents
Our NHS spinal injury solicitors in the UK have the expertise to help you make a variety of spinal injury claims if you or your loved one have been a victim of such an unfortunate occurrence due to the negligence of another individual. For instance, if you wish to make a back pain at work claim, our solicitors can assist you seek justice for harm done to you and compensation for back injury at work.
During our free consultation session, our spinal injury solicitors will also give you an idea of what you can expect as your back-injury claim price, settlement for lower back injury, nerve damage car accident compensation; how much compensation for a fall, compensation for compression fracture, fractured vertebrae compensation or other settlement payouts as related to your type of injury claim.
Starting A Spine Injury Claim
In order to make your lumbar spine injury compensation claim, you need to meet with your personal injury solicitor. When you come to us, we will make a thorough evaluation of your claim to find out whether you have a strong case.
Thereafter we will appoint to you a specialist spinal injury solicitor who with his team of legal experts will proceed to represent you. They will try to find out more about how your injury occurred, help you gather evidence to support your claim and guide you through the entire claiming process in detail and in very clear terms.
They will also get in touch with the other part, write to them a letter of claim and establish liability on their part. As soon as liability is accepted, both parties will negotiate a favorable settlement fee based on certain factors as applies to your case.
In a case where both parties are unable to reach an agreement, the case will be filed in a court of law to be presided over by a judge.
Making Spinal Injury Claims On Behalf Of A Loved One
We appreciate the fact that your loved one may be unable to make claims by themselves due to the impact and severity of the injury suffered. Therefore, you can make claims on their behalf so as to help ease up the pain and fasten their recovery as they do not have to be burdened with speaking to us by themselves.
We can also tell you more about how you can make claims on behalf of an injured loved one.
Interim Payments
We know that spinal injuries can be very complicated and that sometimes it may take a while for your claim to be completed. We also know that you will need to access quality medical attention in the interim to aid your recovery while waiting for your claims to be settled.
This is why we will do our best to ensure we establish liability and get the defense party to accept that they are at fault. This will pave the way to get you an “interim payment” before the final settlement. This will help you offset medical bills and take care of other urgent needs as your case progresses.
In a case where the sufferer is the provider of the family and is now forced to stay off work thus losing income and other earnings, interim payments can help keep the family afloat to reduce their burden and distress in such a difficult time.
Proving A Spinal Injury Claim
Two things need to be established in order to successfully prove your claim. These are:
- Liability And
- Causation
What this means is that you must be able to demonstrate that the one you are making a claim against was indeed at fault for your injury. You must show that such a person was either negligent, careless or failed to do what he or she is supposed to do and that failure to do such resulted in the injury you or your loved one has suffered.
It is important that both liability and causation are proven as establishing one without the other still renders the claim unsuccessful.
Several information or documents which can be used as evidence to prove your claim include;
- Detailed statements
- Pictures from the scene of the accident
- Images showing the injuries sustained as well as damages to machinery, vehicle or other properties
- Witness statements
- CCTV / dash-cam or helmet-cam footage
- Medical reports including X-rays, CT scans or MRI scans
- Financial evidence of losses incurred
- Police reports where necessary
- Accident book
- Reconstruction of accident
Lumbar Spine Injury Compensation
Lumbar spinal fusion settlements and other back injury compensation payouts vary from case to case, so we cannot tell you exactly how much you might get. However, with our spine injury calculator, we can give you an idea of what your back-injury settlement payout might be. You can be rest assured that we will work very hard to ensure that you receive the full amount of settlement you deserve.
We are well aware that no amount of money can erase the memories of what has happened to you or turn back the hands of time, but the compensation amount you will receive can help to cover the financial costs incurred and impacts of your injury on your wellbeing now and even in the future.
Your lumbar spine injury compensation amount will be determined by:
- The severity of your injury
- The impact of the injury on your daily life including work and social life
- Emotional impacts of the injury
- Future prognosis
- Loss of earnings and out of pocket expenses
- Rehabilitation and medical expenses
- Accommodation or travel costs to and from appointments
- Home Adaptations to suit your new condition
How Much Compensation For Back Injury In Car Accident?
If you wish to know how much a back-injury is worth as well as other spinal injury compensation payouts, the table below gives you an average payout for back injury claims. These figures do not however include compensation for financial expenses or medical expenses.
| Type Of Injury | Estimated Compensation Payout |
| Tetraplegia (Quadriplegia) | £304,630 to £379,100 |
| Paraplegia | £205,580 to £266,740 |
| Severe back injury | £36,390 to £151,070 |
| Moderate back injury | £11,730 to £36,390 |
| Minor back injury | £1,000 to £11,730 |
| Severe neck injury | £42,680 to £139,210 |
| Moderate neck injury | £7,410 to £36,120 |
| Minor neck injury | £1,000 to £7,410 |
Lumbar Spine Injury Claims Time Limit
Like all medical negligence and personal injury claims, spine injury claims have a time limit within which claims must be made. This is usually set at 3 years from the date of accident according to the Limitation Act of 1980.
However, we strongly advise that you do not wait till this time window is far run down before you begin to make your claims. It is better that you make your claims as quickly as possible when the events are still clear and can be easily recalled before certain vital evidence is either destroyed or altered.
Furthermore, starting your claims process early enough also gives your solicitor ample time to prepare adequately for a better legal representation.
Exceptions to the rule
- Where the accident involves a child, who is less than 18, they will be allowed until their 21st birthday to make a claim.
- Cases involving Marine and Aircraft Accidents, or Criminal Injuries have a 2-year limitation period
- In cases where the victim is incapacitated and unable to make a claim as a result of the impact of the accident, the person may be allowed time until they can make their claims
However, as we have pointed out, you can make claims for your loved one who is either ineligible (child) or incapacitated and we will help you do that.
No Win No Fee NHS Negligence Solicitors
Here at NHS negligence claims, we handle our spine injury claims under our no win no fee policy. This means that you are not to pay us any legal fees before we can commence your claims. You do not also have to pay us at any point during your claims. Even if you lose your case, you won’t pay us a penny as we take out an insurance cover to protect you from such.
We will only require 25% of your compensation fee at the end of a successful case as what we term “success fee”.
We are always ready to assist you, stand by you and fight for you to get justice for the harm done to you and obtain a deserved compensation for your suffering.
Therefore, we encourage you not to hesitate but reach out to us to assist you make that claim today.