How To Seek Compensation For Back Injuries In Pasadena

The older you get, the more you come to appreciate and understand just how significant staying healthy is. Yes, you need essentials like a nice job and some companionship in life, but none of that would really matter unless you are healthy enough to enjoy those things. Unfortunately, trying to stay healthy can be challenging at times, not for lack of effort on your side but rather because sometimes things happen that you didn’t plan for. Take back injuries, for example. They are one of the most common injuries that people suffer from in Pasadena, and also one of the most debilitating. You must seek compensation for such incidents where you suffer back injuries because of another party’s negligence. Here’s how you can do that in Pasadena. 

Understand your rights

The first step to making a successful claim for compensation due to back injuries is understanding your rights. Believe it or not, back injuries are more common than you could possibly imagine, and a lot of them are due to the daily stresses of people’s jobs. You are actually entitled to worker’s compensation, even in those cases. Naturally, jobs who pose a greater risk of back injuries are also entitled to compensation. Stats even show that 3 out of 4 workers get some form of compensation for back injuries, so that is something you need to keep in mind because chances are you can win the claim. But to win, you need to file it in the first place, and that means understanding your rights. 

What kind of back injuries are entitled to compensation? 

Well, you can’t exactly sue for having muscle spasms in your back. There are two common types of injuries. The first is spondylolisthesis which is when a lower back vertebra slips from its location, and that can be caused by trauma. The second is cervical radiculopathy which is damage to the spine as a result of a ruptured disc, which causes all sorts of pain. As explained on https://usa-law.org/personal-injury/spinal-cord-back-injuries/, these injuries and the related symptoms can happen because of a car accident, heavy lifting, falling from a distance, slip and fall accidents, and other causes. You can seek compensation if you sustained one of those injuries due to someone else’s negligence, whether that is a reckless driver or an employer that pays no attention to safety standards. 

Hire specialized attorneys 

If you want to seek compensation, you will need to hire attorneys to represent you. They can’t be just any average lawyers. They need to specialize in personal injury cases, and back injuries in particular. They will know how to deal with insurance companies, which can be extremely tricky since those aren’t really known for their love of compensation. By hiring a competent and specialized lawyer, you ensure that they can handle your case and seek maximum compensation with the insurance company if there is negligence to be proven. They could also take the case before a judge if the insurers refused to pay. This is why it helps to hire attorneys who specialize in this kind of case as they would know when to settle and when to go all the way. 

How much money could you get? 

That is a tricky question to answer because a lot of factors will play into the amount of money you could receive. For starters, what kind of injury did you sustain? The severity of the injury will play a huge role because it also indicates just what your medical bills would look like. If you are going for worker’s comp because of a workplace injury, then other factors will be taken into consideration, like your average earnings weekly or monthly and the cause of the injury as well as whether or not there was negligence that caused the incident. Having an experienced lawyer is crucial in this phase as they would tell you whether or not the money offered by the insurance company is fair. 

What can I do to strengthen my position? 

If you want to improve the odds of you winning a claim, then there are a few things that you could do. If you suffered a car accident, for instance, then you shouldn’t leave the scene without getting a copy of the police report. You should also take photos of everything on the scene to further your claim. You should never admit fault at an accident scene. Whatever injuries you sustained, make sure you document everything related to your medical expenses and the nature of the injury. 

Seeking medical compensation for a back injury isn’t easy in Pasadena, or anywhere else for that matter. You need to be prepared and take all the necessary steps to improve your situation, and you can start by hiring specialized attorneys to represent you.