Paralysis

Securing The Resources For A New Reality

A paralyzing injury changes lives forever, and not just that of the accident victim. Family members’ lives are affected too, by high medical costs, having to meet household bills on a reduced income and finding ways to cope with the radically changed reality of their lives.

At Caesar & Napoli, we are committed to helping accident victims and their families deal successfully with the effects of paralyzing injuries. Our lawyers provide results-oriented representation designed to help our clients obtain the funds to pay for needed medical care, rehabilitation therapy and personal services, as well as full compensation for all other losses and suffering.

Helping Accident Victims Rebuild Their Lives

If your loved one has been paralyzed from an accident in New York, Caesar & Napoli, wants to help you. When you choose us to represent you, our paralysis injury attorneys will undertake a comprehensive legal effort for you. We will document the liability of the party that caused the accident, identify your loved one’s medical needs and seek maximum compensation for you.

Caesar & Napoli, wants to help you get the medical care, rehabilitation services and compensation you need to rebuild your life.

Developing A Customized Life Care Plan

In cases involving paralysis, our law firm retains a life care planner. Through in-depth discussions with the accident victim, the victim’s family and health care providers, this medical professional will identify the care and services that the accident victim will need for the rest of his or her life. For example, this customized life care plan could indicate the need for ongoing medical care, rehabilitation services, long-term care in a residential facility or alternations to your home to accommodate a wheelchair. Caesar & Napoli, will then seek full compensation for these costs, as well as all other economic and noneconomic losses.

The Terms, and Why the Level Matters

Paraplegia affects the legs and, depending on the level, part of the trunk. Quadriplegia, also called tetraplegia, affects all four limbs and often breathing and hand function as well. An injury is described as complete when no signal passes below the level of the damage, and incomplete when some movement or sensation remains.

The level of the injury is not a technicality. It sets the number of attendant care hours a person will need each day, whether respiratory support is required, whether a powered chair replaces a manual one, and what the home has to be rebuilt to accommodate. Two people with the same diagnosis can have lifetime needs that differ enormously, which is why a claim of this kind cannot be valued from the label alone.

Not all paralysis comes from the spine. A brain injury, a stroke following a medical error, or damage to a group of peripheral nerves can produce the same loss of function and the same lifetime need.

Where These Injuries Come From

• Motor vehicle and motorcycle collisions, and riders or pedestrians struck by vehicles
• Falls from height on construction sites, including falls from scaffolds, ladders and unguarded edges
• Objects falling from height onto a worker below
• Diving and pool incidents, and falls on poorly maintained property
• Medical error, including anesthesia and epidural complications and a missed spinal cord compression or infection
• Assaults, including claims that also involve negligent security

New York construction cases carry a rule worth knowing. Where the paralysis followed a fall from height, or an object falling from height onto a worker, the Labor Law puts the duty to provide proper protection on the owner and the general contractor. In those cases ordinary comparative fault does not cut the recovery the way it would in a standard negligence claim. There are limits. The protection does not apply where the worker’s own conduct was the sole cause of the fall, and owners of one and two family homes who do not direct or control the work are outside it. Within those limits it makes elevation related cases fundamentally different from other injury claims.

What the Claim Has to Fund

A settlement in a paralysis case is not compensation for an event. It is a fund that has to last a lifetime, and it has to survive inflation and the replacement cycle on everything in it.

• Attendant and skilled nursing care, costed by the hour across decades
• A home that works, or a different home, with ramps, door widths, bathroom and kitchen changes
• An accessible vehicle, replaced periodically
• Wheelchairs, lifts, standing frames, respiratory and bowel and bladder equipment, each with its own lifespan
• Preventive care, particularly for pressure injuries and respiratory complications
• Lost earnings, and the career that was interrupted rather than only the job that was held

Our page on assessing lifetime costs sets out how those figures are built and reduced to present value. Because the fund has to last, how it is held matters as much as its size. Part of a recovery is often structured, meaning it pays out on a schedule rather than in one sum, and where means-tested benefits are in the picture a special needs trust is normally part of the arrangement.

Paying for Care Before a Case Resolves

Cases of this size take time, and the need starts immediately. Where a motor vehicle was involved, no-fault benefits normally cover early treatment. Where the injury happened at work, workers’ compensation covers treatment and part of lost wages, and a separate claim against a third party can run alongside it. Health insurance, Medicaid and Medicare may all pay in the meantime, and each may later assert a right to be repaid from a recovery. Those repayment claims can often be negotiated down, and handling them properly is part of the case rather than an afterthought.

Common Questions

Is there still a claim if the paralysis is incomplete?

Yes. Incomplete means some function remains, not that the injury is minor. Many people with incomplete injuries still need equipment, adapted housing and daily assistance, and the claim has to reflect that.

How are the lifetime costs worked out?

A life care planner works with the treating doctors and therapists to set out what will be needed, year by year, for the rest of the person’s life. An economist then converts that plan into a present value figure. Both are built on the medical record rather than on estimates.

How long does a case like this take?

Usually more than a year, and often considerably more. Until the clinical picture is stable, the future cost cannot be projected reliably, and settling early risks a figure that runs out while the need continues.

Who can act if the injured person cannot?

A court can appoint a guardian, and a family member can start that process. Where the injury is severe enough that the person will need help managing money as an adult, that appointment is often made alongside the arrangements for holding the recovery.

Will a recovery affect Medicaid or other benefits?

Without planning, yes. This is why the structure of a settlement is settled while the case is resolving rather than after the funds arrive.

How long do I have to bring a claim?

Three years from the date of the accident for most claims, two years and six months where the cause was medical, and as little as ninety days to serve a notice of claim if a city agency or a public authority is involved.

Where else should I read?

Two pages cover neighboring ground: spinal cord injuries deals with the mechanism, and catastrophic injuries deals with how the largest claims are built.

Contact Us

At Caesar & Napoli, we do not charge for initial consultations. To schedule a meeting with one of our experienced NYC paralysis injury attorneys, please contact us at (888) 235-6766 .