Our 15 year old client was sitting in the back seat of her mother’s car while her mother was driving and her aunt was in riding in the front passenger’s seat. They were struck by another car that ran a red light at an intersection in Brooklyn, New York. The driver of the car that hit them had a suspended license.
Our young client sustained severe neck and back injuries as a result of the impact. The injuries to her spine resulted in pain and numbness which radiated into her arms and legs.
The human spine is made up of 24 bones, called vertebrae, that are stacked on top of one another. These bones connect to create a canal that protects the spinal cord. The spinal cord contains nerves which travel through the spinal canal carrying messages between the brain and muscles. Nerve roots branch out from the spinal cord through openings in the vertebrae called foramen.
Due to the seriousness of her injuries, our client had to undergo a series of epidural steroid injections in order to alleviate her pain. The epidural needle is inserted into the back or neck under a special kind of x-ray guidance called “fluoroscopy” so that the doctor can ensure that the needle is in the epidural space. The doctor will then inject medication and a corticosteroid into the epidural space in order to relive the patient’s pain and reduce the inflammation.
There are three different ways to perform an epidural injection – either a cadal block, translumbar or transforaminal.
A caudal block is placed through the sacral gap (a space below the lumbar spine near the sacrum). This type of block usually affects the spinal nerves at the end of the spinal canal near the sacrum.
The translumbar approach is the most common way of performing an epidural injection. The needle is inserted between the spinous processes of two vertebrae.
The transforaminal approach is a very selective injection around a specific nerve root. By injecting medication around a specific nerve root, the doctor can determine if this nerve root is causing the problem.Because of the nature of her injuries, our your client underwent a series of epidural steroid injections in order to alleviate her pain and numbness.
Stephanie Mastrocola, Esq. of Schulman Blitz, LLP, was able to successfully settle our young client’s case for the full amount of the defendant’s insurance policy limits.
z Law Group LLP today.
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