Personal Injury Lawyer in Dover, NJ

Fatal injuries can happen in many ways, including:

• Severe blood loss
• Shock
• Brain damage
• Spinal cord damage
• Respiratory arrest
• Cardiac arrest
• Poisoning

After someone suffers a fatal injury, their personal representative or the executor of their will can pursue a wrongful death claim against those who caused it. To prove someone caused a fatal injury, you and your lawyer must show that the other party’s actions were a substantial factor in causing the death.

Suppose your spouse died in a car crash when someone ran a stop sign. But the death happened when the driver hit a light post, causing it to fall onto your spouse’s car. Even though the sequence of events was complex, the driver’s negligence in running the stop sign naturally and foreseeably led to the death.

Brain injuries can range from mild to fatal. They can happen in several ways, including:

• Blunt trauma to the head
• Penetrating trauma that pierces the skull
• Violent shaking
• Oxygen deprivation

A common cause of brain injuries is car accidents. In a car accident, the brain shakes violently in the skull. As the brain shakes, it experiences pressure from pushing through the cerebrospinal fluid and meninges. The cellular damage produced by the pressure can cause the brain to swell.

Some types of brain injuries that may result from traumatic incidents include:

• Concussions
• Cerebral contusions
• Diffuse axonal injuries
• Subdural hematomas

Depending on the type and severity of brain damage, it can cause physical, mental, and emotional symptoms, including:

• Headache
• Impaired vision
• Impaired hearing
• Slurred speech
• Paralysis
• Numbness
• Tingling
• Confusion
• Amnesia
• Difficulty concentrating
• Personality changes
• Sleep disorders
• Emotional outbursts
• Coma
• Death

Brain cells do not grow back. As a result, a brain injury can leave victims with permanent physical, emotional, and cognitive disabilities.

The spinal cord carries signals between your brain and body. When trauma severs the spinal cord, you will experience permanent paralysis. The location of the injury will determine the extent.

A spinal cord injury in the neck will cause paralysis in all four limbs, the torso, and the abdomen. If the spinal cord gets severed just below the skull, the victim may die due to paralysis of the chest muscles that facilitate breathing. A spinal cord injury in the back will cause paralysis in the abdomen and legs.

Spinal cord injuries can happen when a foreign object severs the spinal cord. They also happen when a fractured vertebra dislocates and compresses or cuts the spinal nerves.

Doctors cannot repair a severed spinal cord. If the spinal cord has not been fully severed, the brain may rewire itself to regain some functions. But otherwise, victims will often suffer permanent disabilities from a severed spinal cord.

Amputations happen in two ways. Trauma can tear or sever a body part, removing it from your body. Trauma can also damage a body part so severely that doctors must remove it to save your life.

In either case, the most common reason underlying amputations is vascular damage. Your body cells need oxygen to live. Red blood cells deliver oxygen. When the arteries get damaged, the cells begin to die. If doctors cannot reconnect the blood vessels quickly, an amputation may be the only option for preventing gangrene and death.

Nerve damage occurs when nerves get severed or stretched. Nerve damage causes symptoms such as:

• Radiating pain
• Numbness
• Tingling
• Weakness
• Muscle spasms

These injuries can happen in any accident. For example, you could suffer nerve damage when you grab a railing as you fall down the stairs. Your weight can stretch the nerves in your shoulder, producing symptoms in your arm and hand.

Spine injuries can happen in a few ways. An impact on your neck or back can damage your spine. These injuries can also occur when powerful forces cause your spine to hyperextend and then compress. The compression forces can fracture vertebrae and crush discs.

The greatest concern about spine injuries is how they can affect the spinal cord and the nerve roots branching from it. A fractured vertebra can sever or compress the spinal cord. A herniated or bulging disc can compress a nerve root.

In addition to any effects a spine injury might have on your spinal cord, it can destabilize your back. As a result, you could experience chronic back pain that prevents you from comfortably standing, sitting, or even lying down.

The enormous forces your body experiences after suffering a traumatic accident can fracture your bones. Simple bone fractures can disable you for six to eight weeks while they heal. But more serious fractures, like a shattered bone, may take a year or longer to heal.

Broken bones can produce serious complications such as arthritis, deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism. These complications can produce pain or permanent injuries.

Sprains happen when you hyperextend a joint. The ligaments holding the joint together stretch and may even tear. The damaged ligaments produce symptoms such as:

• Joint pain
• Limited range of motion
• Inflammation
• Joint instability

Strains occur when trauma causes your muscles and tendons to hyperextend. The tissues stretch and tear, resulting in symptoms such as:

• Muscle pain and weakness
• Swelling
• Stiffness
• Muscle spasms

Mild strains and sprains heal in roughly a month. Severe strains and sprains that involve a full-thickness tear will require more time to heal. In some situations, you may even need surgery to repair the torn tissues.