Trauma to the nerves can cause a lot more than just a little pain or tingling. Any injury that leads to nerve damage has the potential to leave you to deal with long-lasting consequences. Some people recover, but others face permanent disability. When someone else’s negligence is to blame, you might have legal options to go after compensation for your losses.
Chicago has its fair share of accidents, workplace mishaps, and medical mistakes. Each of these can cause serious nerve damage that affects your mobility, sensation, and overall quality of life. When you know the signs to look for and what causes such injuries, you can make informed decisions about your future.
What Causes Nerve Damage?
Nerve damage happens when the nerves are compressed, stretched, or completely severed. It can appear in just about any situation, but some types of accidents happen more often in the area than others.
Vehicle Accident
Motorcycle, truck, and car crashes often leave victims with serious traumatic injuries. Whiplash can damage or compress the nerves in the upper back and neck, while more serious accidents might cause trauma to the legs, arms, or spine.
Work Injuries
Workers face risks on the job every day in Chicago. Repetitive motions, construction accidents, and constant heavy lifting can compress nerves or cause direct trauma.
Medical Malpractice
Surgical mistakes, misdiagnosed conditions, and poorly placed injections sometimes damage the nerves. If a medical professional’s error creates additional trauma, it could provide grounds for a medical malpractice claim.
Slips and Falls
A lot of people don’t realize that a simple trip or fall can easily cause injury to the nerves, especially for older adults. When you land on the wrong part of the body or hit a hard surface, the force can compress a nerve or cause direct trauma.
Defective Products
This one is less common, but it’s not unheard of for unsafe machinery or faulty medical implants to damage a person’s nerves when they malfunction. Besides direct injury, they can also trigger long-term compression.
Symptoms of Nerve Damage
Everyone experiences nerve damage differently, so the symptoms are often just as varied. Some people only notice mild tingling, but others suffer from debilitating pain or have trouble moving the affected area.
Common symptoms include:
- Sharp, stabbing, or burning pain
- Persistent tingling or numbness
- Sensitivity to touch
- Lack of coordination
- Poor balance
- Muscle weakness
- Paralysis (in severe cases)
If nerve damage isn’t treated properly, the symptoms often get worse. Most cases can be managed with medication, physical therapy, and lifestyle changes. Severe injuries might need surgery to correct.
Can Nerve Damage Be Permanent?
Fortunately, nerve damage often heals over time. However, an injury can also lead to permanent disability. The severity of the trauma, how quickly it’s treated, and the body’s ability to naturally heal itself all play a role. Peripheral nerves (the ones outside the brain and spine) can sometimes regenerate, but they may not recover fully from severe damage.
Life can become significantly harder for those facing long-term or permanent nerve injuries. Medical bills add up, it becomes difficult or even impossible to go back to work, and you might require assistance with everyday tasks.
Legal Options for Nerve Damage Victims In Chicago
Legal action might be necessary for accidents that were caused by someone else’s negligence. Victims can go after compensation for their medical costs, lost time from work, pain and suffering, and other losses. The specific legal option depends on how the person was hurt.
Personal Injury Claims
Pretty much any accident that could have been prevented by exercising reasonable caution would fall under a personal injury claim. In Chicago, proving negligence involves showing that the other party acted carelessly or recklessly and that their behavior led to your injury.
Workers’ Compensation
If the injury happened while you were at work, Illinois workers’ compensation laws offer benefits for medical bills and lost wages. However, these cases can get complicated, and employers or insurance companies often try to minimize or deny payouts. Hiring legal counsel can give you a better chance of recovering the compensation you’re entitled to collect.
Medical Malpractice Lawsuits
When a doctor, surgeon, nurse, or other medical professional makes a careless mistake that leads to nerve damage, you can file a malpractice lawsuit. Not every mistake counts as negligence, though, so you have to be able to show that the provider didn’t meet the standard of care and that their actions caused your trauma.
Product Liability Claims
If a faulty product causes damage to your nerves, the manufacturer may be held accountable. Product liability laws are in place to protect consumers from dangerous products, so victims can file a legal claim against manufacturers who don’t make sure their items are safe before putting them on the market.
Get Legal Help for Nerve Damage In Chicago
If you or a loved one is suffering from nerve damage caused by someone else’s negligence, don’t wait to take action. The costs will pile up quickly, and you deserve to be compensated for your losses. Contact Powell and Pisman Injury Lawyers today for a free consultation and find out how to protect your rights.