Spinal injuries and herniated discs in senior citizens

I am a spinal and brain injury attorney who accepts many spinal and brain injury cases involving serious accident injuries such as a cervical or lumbar herniated disc to senior citizens.

I enjoy these cases, and I like senior citizens. Until recently, I frequently drove a 60-mile roundtrip with my spouse to visit a particular senior citizen, my dearest friend Lillian, and we would take her out for dinner. She was 98 when she passed away, and we had been friends ever since I represented her at her trial about 20 years ago. I spoke to her daily and she had been a welcome source of excellent advice.

Senior citizens are overlooked and are a large part of the population in our great country who deserve better appreciation.

Older people work hard, raise kids, act as parents to their grandkids, and often still support their adult children. Older people are hardly experiencing and enjoying "The Golden Years" that they should be.

It's already upsetting that older or elderly people lose more of their "Golden Years" when their necks or backs are injured in a car accident caused by another, but it's even more upsetting to them and to me when we hear an insurance company adjuster say "What do you expect? The guy is old. Of course an older person is going to have back pain!"

An insurance company adjuster best represents the insurance company's clients by trying not to pay for injuries caused, or trying not to settle fairly. He points out that the lumbar herniated discs are placed, like a diamond ring, into a setting or protective structure of a healthy young spine. Reading the radiologist’s report of the MRI makes him even happier. A radiologist's MRI report, for anyone over fifty years of age, will probably say something like “degenerative changes”, “osteophytes” or perhaps “osteoporosis” in the case of women.

The adjuster uses this “evidence” of old age related degeneration to state that the herniated disc happened before the accident. I’m a spinal injury attorney who is ready for the excuses of any insurance company adjuster and I know what to do to help you try gain compensation for the accident that caused your herniated disc.

When an adjuster thinks that he knows something, and especially because he wants to beat down the value of your spinal injury case, he will stick to his guns and many times there can be no shaking a know-it-all like this off his high horse. This may mean a trip by your spinal injury lawyer to the Courthouse, and filing the lawsuit, which any good spinal injury attorney will advise you, is not something to be taken lightly.

Now let’s revisit the points that the adjuster has made about the “degenerative changes” and how "supposedly" you cannot become injured in a car accident if you are a senior citizen.

This argument requires a counter argument from a spinal injury lawyer, and there are several. Each spinal injury lawyer has different options and tactics when it comes to herniated lumbar disc cases.

Admit that the spine is the typical spine of a senior citizen, and that yes, it does have degenerative changes. However, the presence of these “degenerative changes”, including “osteophytes”, is proof that the spine is not a young person’s spine, and therefore it can more easily be injured by a smaller impact in a car accident. How can one hold one's age against an injury caused by another? One cannot. The accident occurred. Somebody got hurt. Somebody is to blame.

If you’re a senior citizen, and your back was damaged by any reason other than natural aging, you may be able to claim money compensation for your injury.

Contact me via my contact form, or call me, Toll Free, on 888 446 1999, to arrange your first free consultation with me. I won’t charge you for any costs or fees if I am unable to secure money compensation for you.

The purpose of these web articles are not to make comment about an individual's personal choices, but are intended to educate you about the possible paths of outcome of various spinal injuries.

This website is provided as a public service regarding the topic of spinal injury and is not to be relied upon as medical or legal advice. The information supplied is of a general nature only, and is not intended to be relied upon. This information is not represented to be the most up to date or to cover your particular circumstances.

Before deciding to obtain care, treatment, or to determine a diagnosis, please consult with a licensed physician, and concerning your legal rights please consult with a lawyer.

Warning: Do not let any medical or legal concerns wait because of any information you have read on this website.

Do you want to learn about your legal rights?

Have you, or someone you know, had an accident resulting in a spine or spinal cord injury?

Call Mr. Leeds directly at (954) 683-0355, or contact Mr Leeds via email.
All inquiries will be promptly responded to.