Brain & Spinal Cord Injuries

Traumatic Brain Injuries:

Traumatic brain injury is defined as traumatically-induced physiological disruption of brain function usually manifested by any period of loss of consciousness, memory loss immediately before or after an accident, or any alteration and mental status or awareness. Each year, more than 1.5 million Americans sustain a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Brain injuries claim more than 50,000 lives per year and leave another 80,000 individuals with life-long disabilities.

The most common causes of brain injury in young and middle-aged Americans (ages 16-24) is trauma from motor vehicle accidents and falls. Despite the sheer numbers, TBI is still designated as a “silent epidemic.” For those who survive, brain injury is a life-altering event for the victim and their families. Serious physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral impairments are a frequent result. In addition, the medical costs are staggering. Often the person with the brain injury is not even aware that they are different, instead attributing problems to daily life struggles. These problems include learning, remembering and organizing information.

ROSSETTI & DEVOTO, P.C. is a law firm experienced in representing persons with traumatic brain injuries. Mr. DeVoto was elected and served on the Board of Trustees of Bancroft NeuroHealth (a prestigious brain injury school located in Haddonfield, New Jersey) as well as Bancroft Brain Injury Services Corp. (Bancroft’s brain injury rehabilitation center). Rossetti & DeVoto works with some of the top neurologists, neuropsychiatrists, neuropsychologists, and vocational rehabilitation experts in the world. We understand the medicine as well as the treatment and rehabilitation needed to allow brain injured persons to return to our community and be effective and contributing members. If you’ve had the misfortune to have sustained a traumatic brain injury, call us now and let our experience work for you.

Spinal Cord Injuries:

Spinal cord injuries (SCI) occur approximately 11,000 times per year in the United States and primarily affects young adults with most persons injuring their spinal cord between 16 and 38 years of age. Since 2000, a staggering 78 percent of all spinal cord injuries occur in young males. The lifetime medical care costs are staggering as is the resulting physical and emotional disability left for the injured person and their families. Motor vehicle crashes are the primary cause of SCI in the United States, followed by falls and diving accidents.

ROSSETTI & DEVOTO, P.C. is an experienced law firm that has represented people with spinal cord injuries in New Jersey and Pennsylvania for many years with excellent results. Read about Mr. Rossetti’s $5.5 million jury verdict in Camden County for a man who was partially paralyzed by a defective General Motors seatbelt and his $2.5 million settlement in Burlington County for a woman who was partially paralyzed from a car crash that was caused by a defective vehicle.

If you have suffered from any spinal cord injury including quadriplegia, paraplegia, incomplete paraplegia, hemiplegia or motor dysfunction call ROSSETTI & DEVOTO, P.C. and let our law firm talk to you about your case and how we can help.

Types of Spinal Cord Injury

• Complete Spinal Cord Injury: Occurs when there is no functioning below the level of injury, no sensation or voluntary movement. Both sides of the body are equally affected.
• Incomplete Spinal Cord Injury: Occurs when there s some functioning below the level of injury. Someone with an incomplete spinal injury may be able to move one limb more than another; may be able feel parts of the body that cannot be moved, or may have more functioning on one side than the other.

Classifications of Spinal Cord Injury:

• Tetraplegia (formerly quadriplegia): is an injury to the spinal cord in the cervical spine segments with associated loss of muscle strength in all extremities.
• Paraplegia: is an injury in the spinal cord in the mid back (thoracic), low back (umbar), or pelvic (sacral) segments, These include the cauda equina and conus medullaris.

Spinal cord injuries differ from back injuries such as ruptured disks, spinal stenosis or pinched nerves in that a person can break their back or neck but not sustain a spinal cord injury. When it is only the bones around the spinal cord that are damaged, but the spinal cord is unharmed, it is not considered a spinal cord injury.