Getting Fair Compensation for Nerve Damage After a Maritime Accident

A maritime accident can cause a wide range of injuries that may affect your career, overall health, and ability to care for your family. Nerve damage is an unpredictable injury that could heal completely without any medical care or leave you permanently disabled, which makes it difficult to get fair compensation.

If you’ve been injured in a maritime accident, you need to talk to an attorney with an in-depth knowledge of maritime law and how it applies to different situations. That’s where we come in. Call Fuquay Law Firm at 251-473-4443 to set up a consultation now.

Maritime Injuries That May Cause Nerve Damage

There are three main types of nerve damage. Neuropraxia causes a physiological block and often recovers without substantial intervention. Axonotmesis interrupts the axon and generally requires a long recovery period as the axon regrows. Neurotmesis, a complete severing of the axon and connective tissue, requires immediate surgical care and still may never fully heal.

Many types of maritime accidents can cause the type of trauma needed for nerve damage. They include:

• Falls at the same level or from heights
• Fires and chemical explosions
• Exposure and hypothermia
• Collisions with front-end loaders and other types of machinery
• Falling objects
• Crush injuries
• Lifting accidents

Symptoms of Nerve Damage

You may not know immediately that you’ve suffered a nerve injury, as the symptoms of nerve damage overlap with many other types of maritime injuries. Some of the most common symptoms include:

• Numbness and tingling, especially in the hands and feet
• A feeling of constriction around your arms or legs
• An inability to hold objects tightly, or dropping objects unintentionally
• Weak muscles in the arms and legs
• A buzzing feeling in specific parts of your body
• Sharp pains in your extremities

It’s crucial to keep an eye out for these symptoms after a maritime accident. The long-term consequences of nerve damage can be devastating.

How a Nerve Injury May Affect Your Career and Future

If nerve damage has the potential to heal fully, you may wonder why it’s so important to secure a fair settlement. While your injury may heal, there’s always the possibility that it will leave you permanently disabled.

Consider the most severe type of nerve damage, which leaves the nerve completely severed. The only chance you have at recovery is immediate surgery, and even if that happens, you may still never heal completely.

Imagine how permanent nerve damage could affect every part of your life. Many maritime careers require strong fine motor skills and attention to detail. If your hands are affected by nerve damage, you may never be able to work in your chosen career again. That would mean either receiving disability payments for the rest of your career or having to retrain and start over on a new path. That’s a huge financial loss to you and your family.

Additionally, permanent nerve damage could affect your ability to help out at home. Taking care of children, cooking, and cleaning are all considerably harder when you’ve lost partial use of one or both hands. This would put a strain on your partner and possibly even require you to hire domestic help.

You also want to think about the personal cost to you. Not only is nerve damage inconvenient and physically limiting, but it can also often be incredibly painful. There are limited options for pain relief, and you could experience tingling sensations or sharp pains for the rest of your life. Even though that pain may not cost you money, you still deserve compensation for it.

Fighting for Fair Compensation

If you were injured in a maritime accident, you may be owed compensation under the Jones Act or general maritime law. However, there are employers that will push back against injury claims to avoid offering a fair payout. Don’t let yourself become a victim of one of these unethical employers or insurance companies. Instead, contact Fuquay Law Firm to learn more about your next steps.

Explore Your Options with Fuquay Law Firm

Let’s sit down and talk more about your maritime injury to see if you are owed compensation. Set up a consultation now by calling us at 251-473-4443 or reaching out to us online