Serious Injuries

Types of injuries

The Schmidt & Salita Law Team, MINNEAPOLIS INJURY LAWYERS, have over 75 Years combined experience in successfully representing the victims of Personal Injury, Worker’s Compensation and wrongful death. This experience includes handling the following types of injuries:

AMPUTATIONS:

The Schmidt & Salita Law Team has successfully handled cases involving amputations of arms and, legs, hands, and feet., as well as other body parts. Many of these cases have involved PRODUCT LIABILITY CLAIMS for DEFECTIVE PRODUCTS against major corporations such as International Harvester, J.I.Case, and Rockwell International, and Black & Decker. They have involved claims with farm equipment, industrial equipment, and construction equipment.

BRAIN INJURY:

Brain injuries involve the a full spectrum from MILD TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURIES due to CLOSED HEAD INJURIES (which involve injury to the brain without a skull fracture) and OPEN HEAD INJURIES (involving a skull fracture or a penetrating wound through the skull bone into the cranium). Douglas E. Schmidt, the senior TRIAL LAWYER at the Schmidt & Salita Law Team has observed that there is some degree of brain injury in a large percentage of the motor vehicle collisions involving significant property damage (i.e. over $4000 damage).

BURN INJURY DUE TO FIRE:

The Schmidt & Salita Law Team has successfully recovered on behalf of one of its clients in cases of burn injuries in cases involving MOTOR VEHICLE CRASH FIRES against Ford Motor Company and International Harvester. Another case involved BURN INJURIES due to the scalding of a patient in a NURSING HOME CLAIM, where the burn injury resulted in a WRONGFUL DEATH. Two other cases involved the wrongful death of three people in a motor vehicle crash fire. Yet, another case involved and the death of a truck driver in a TRUCK CRASH FIRE.

CHEMICAL BURNS AND INJURIES:

The MINNEAPOLIS PERSONAL INJURY INJURY and Workers’ Compensation Lawyers at the Schmidt & Salita Law Team know that chemical burns can be every bit as serious as burnsthose caused by fires. OBneOne of the first successful recoveries of the Schmidt & Salita Law Team involved chemnicalchemical burns to the vocal cords of a child who ingested AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS. In yet another case, Douglas Schmidt recovered successfully in a trial involving an EYE INJURY to a farm worker, suffered when a part of a fertilizer applicator broke, causing chemical burns to the worker’s eye.

EYE INJURY:

One of the jury verdicts of $1 million obtained by the Schmidt & Salita Law Team, MINNEAPOLIS MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LAWYERS, involved a VISION INJURY to a Michigan lawyer who lost sight in an eye due to the medical malpractice of a doctor at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Another case involved a partial loss of vision due to the malfunction of a fertilizer applicator, a piece of farm equipment.

NECK AND BACK INJURIES:

The Schmidt & Salita Law Team has focused on neck and back injuries resulting from car, truck, motorcycle, and pedestrian accidents. These injuries include:

• SPINAL CORD INJURY: Spinal cord injuries are perhaps the most serious of all neck and back injuries. They include PARAPLEGIA, permanent paralysis of the legs, and QUADRIPLEGIA, which is permanent paralysis of both arms and legs.
• INTERVERTEBRAL DISC INJURIES: The human spinal cord consists of vertebrae (bones) and intervertebral discs (which connect the bony vertebrae and allow for the bending and twisting of the spine). The intervertebral discs can suffer a DISC INJURY, including HERNIATION, PROTRUSION, EXTRUSION, and BULGING.Disc injuries are typically diagnosed by MRI scans.
• MUSCULOLIGAMENTOUS INJURIES: The spinal column is supported by muscles and ligaments which can often be seriously injured in car accidents and other types of TRAUMATIC INJURY.
• MYOFASCIAL INJURY: Myofascial pain syndrome is a chronic form of muscle pain which centers around sensitive points in a persons muscle called trigger points. Trigger points are hard nodules in the muscles that cause deep, aching pain, often worsened by activities, causing severe pain in the surrounding areas. This is a condition that often develops after a traumatic injury like a motor vehicle accident.
• FACET JOINT INJURY: The human spine is composed of bony vertebrae which are connected with each other at the facet joints. There are two facet joints between each pair of vertebrae, one on each side. Small nerves branch out from the spinal cord through the facet joints and injury to a facet joint is known to cause significant symptoms of chronic pain throughout the neck and back.
• WHIPLASH INJURIES: also known as FLEXION-EXTENSION INJURIES or ACCELERATION-DECELERATION INJURIES of the neck (cervical spine) and the low back (lumbar spine).

SHOULDER INJURIES:

The shoulder is the most complex joint in the body. Correspondingly, shoulder injuries often are a serious consequence of a traumatic injury in a car accident, industrial accident, construction site accident, or farm accident. ROTATOR CUFF INJURY is another common, but serious shoulder injury.

KNEE INJURY:

The knee joint is very susceptible to traumatic injury. Frequently an athletic injury, it commonly results from motor vehicle collisions and from other types of traumatic injury.

SCAR INJURIES:

The human body’s healing process is often far less than perfect in response to cuts and burns. Scar tissue is abnormal fibrous connective tissue that results when the healing process fails to return the injured body part to its prior healthy condition. Scar tissue is typically thicker than surrounding tissue and not as pliable. HYPERTROPHIC SCARS are red lumps on the skin within the confines of the original wound. KELOID SCARS are ones that grow outside of the confines of the original injury.

SEXUAL ASSAULT INJURIES:

Injuries due to sexual assault can result in very serious psychological consequences which are far more serious than the physical injury. The Schmidt & Salita Law Team has experience in successfully handling cases of sexual assault, including those which have occurred in hospitals and nursing homes.

PSYCHOLOGICAL INJURIES:

Serious personal injury often results in psychological injury in addition to the physical injury. POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER is a common consequence of traumatic physical injury. DEPRESSION also often accompanies physical injury. DRIVING ANXIETY commonly follows physical injuries resulting from motor vehicle collisions.

PULMONARY INJURIES:

Pulmonary injuries result from damage to a lung tissue. This type of injury often occurs as a result of the inhalation (breathing in) of toxic fumes. Douglas E. Schmidt of the Schmidt & Salita Law Team was the lead to a lawyer in litigation in Anoka County District Court involving pulmonary injuries to hockey players, coaches and fans who inhaled toxic fumes (nitrogen dioxide) from a propane-powered ice resurfacing machine (Zamboni). This hazard was compounded by the illegal failure to monitor the air quality in the arena and the intentional blocking of ventilation ports in the arena. The consequence was permanent lung damage to the victims with resulting exercise-induced asthma.