Few injuries cause the substantial pain, suffering and life changes as a back or neck injury. Because your spine runs from your midsection to the base of your skull, most back/neck injuries involve injuries to the spine.

Not only are injuries to the spine and protective muscles and soft tissue surrounding the spine extremely painful, but a back or neck injury can cause you to suffer significant economic losses as well. There are a variety of back and neck injuries regularly experienced by accident victims both immediately following an accident, or which may manifest several months, or even years after the accident.

Based on the substantial expenses and long recovery related to your spinal injury (i.e. medical expenses, rehabilitation expenses, wage loss, pain and suffering and other damages), an insurance company will attempt to settle your spinal injury case with you as soon as possible following your accident. Do not accept any monetary settlement from the insurance company prior to speaking with an attorney experienced in spinal injury claims regarding your legal rights associated with your injury.

Because your spine is such a vast and important area of the human body, numerous injuries can be suffered in an accident. Most back and neck injuries involve the bulging, herniation, or displacement of one or more spinal discs (or vertebrae). When a victim suffers an injury to the spinal discs in an auto accident or other accident, the nerves surrounding the injured discs are oftentimes impaired by the disc displacement as well. The nerve damage resulting from a displaced, herniated, or bulging disc may lead to shooting pains throughout the body, numbness in other areas of the body such as hands and feet, heat sensations, and/or a variety of other physical impairments taking place throughout the spine and body.

In addition to injuries to the spine itself, other serious back and neck injuries are incurred in an automobile accident. Other back and neck injuries include soft tissue tearing, muscle and tendon injuries and damage, as well as numerous different injuries to the soft connective tissue located in and around your back, neck and spine. These injuries are also very painful and can take years to rehabilitate and fully recover from.

As any back/neck injury victim understands far too well, a back/neck injury can not only take significant time to heal, but be very expensive to an injured victim or their family and loved ones. In fact, even a minor back/neck injury can cost thousands of dollars in medical treatment and rehabilitation expenses. While traditional health care insurance may be available to pay for a certain percentage of your medical treatment, the health care insurance provider will require all medical expenses paid to your medical providers be reimbursed in full from the proceeds of your injury settlement. On the other hand, if you do not have health insurance, all medical providers who provided medical services to you will demand full reimbursement for the actual cost of their services, which must be paid out of the proceeds of your accident settlement.

In addition to medical expenses, an injured victim may also be forced to miss work as a result of his or her injuries. Wage losses are compensable under your accident/injury claim. An insurance company will usually demand a sworn statement from your employer to provide evidence of your actual wage loss.

While medical expenses, wage loss and incidental expenses are readily ascertainable through billings, employer verification, invoices and bank statements, your pain and suffering related to your back/neck injury is the most difficult element of your injury claim to valuate. It is in the pain and suffering arena where attorneys deliver the accident victim the significant value to your injury claim. The maximum pain and suffering recovery is obtained by the attorney based on the attorney's experience, and skill with negotiating and litigating back/neck injury claims.

Finally, an attorney must work closely with the accident victim's medical providers to determine all future medical expenses, wage loss and pain and suffering that must be fully paid by the insurance company and/or parties responsible for your injuries in the final injury claim settlement.

A settlement of your back/neck injury claim must include not only past medical expenses, wage loss, pain and suffering and other past economic damages, but all future expenses as well. Therefore, all future economic expenses and damages must be accurately forecasted in order to settle your claim for the maximum compensation you may be entitled to under the law.

In other words, the future medical care necessary for rehabilitating your back/neck injury, as well as the future wage loss and pain and suffering you will incur as a result of your injury must be fully paid to you by the insurance company at the time of settlement or you will forever lose out on this compensation. This means that if you do not properly forecast your future medical expenses (and other related future damages), you will be paying for these expenses out of your own pocket despite the fact you were not at fault for your injuries.

Therefore, to ensure that you receive the maximum compensation for your medical injuries sufficient to pay for future medical expenses and pain and suffering, it is necessary to engage the law firm who will zealously represent you and your injuries to the insurance company.

At Foster Law Offices, we will not advise you to enter into a settlement with an insurance company until all losses and economic losses have been fully and accurately calculated. If the insurance company fails to acknowledge and pay the legal value of your claim, we will compel the insurance company to support its position in a lawsuit and jury trial, if necessary.

Contact Information:

To discuss your back/neck injury claim with an attorney at Foster Law Offices, or to inquire about your legal rights associated with you, or your loved one's back/neck injury claim, please contact us to schedule a free consultation at 206 381-3939; or if you prefer to submit a confidential electronic written inquiry to a Foster Law Offices attorney, please email us at: info@fosterlawoffices.com.