Articles Posted in Spinal Cord Injury

Spinal cord injury can be utterly devastating. Researchers at Purdue University are working on an experimental drug that might restore the function of nerves damaged in spinal cord injuries by preventing short circuits caused when tiny “potassium channels” in the fibers are exposed. The experimental compound, 4-aminopyridine-3-methyl hydroxide, has been shown to restore function to…

As a trucking safety trial attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, I’ve worked with quite a number of spinal cord injury survivors, and have had some good results. But not as good as the verdict a Chicago jury awarded last week. In the Cook County case of Chraca v. Miles, an Illinois DOT vehicle collided with another…

On March 30th, President Obama signed legislation that includes the Christopher and Dava Reeve Paralysis Act (CDRPA).  Though it had been blocked by a single Senator last year, it ultimately passed both houses of Congress with broad bipartisan support. The legislation was named in honor of “Superman” actor Christopher Reeve who became a quadriplegic in…

The New York Times is running a feature on “Voices of Spinal Cord Injury,” with feedback from lots of folks who are SCI survivors.  Here are a few excerpts from the feedback: Ken Shigley is  currently Secretary of the nearly 40,000 member State Bar of Georgia.  He is a  trial attorney in Atlanta, who has been…

Representing people with traumatic spinal cord injuries, I have learned to see them not as “cripples stuck in wheelchairs” but as survivors valiantly striving to get on with their lives despite a harsh new reality.  Every one of them has inspired me. Among the most inspiring is former metro Atlanta resident Alyson Roth, who became a…

Over the years I’ve been incredibly inspired by the courage and spirit of clients who have spinal cord injuries.  One of those is Alyson Roth, who became a paraplegic in an accident on the trip home from a summer job with Campus Crusade at Yosemite prior to her senior year at Samford University.   Alyson…

The tragdy of spinal cord injury may be alleviated in the future if researchers at Northwestern University are right. They are working on use of nanofibers to get disconnected nerve cells to regrow. The idea is to inject a liquid containing  molecules called peptide amphiphiles to generate nerve growth.  Studies with lab animals with severed…

While I make my living as a trial attorney handling personal injury liability cases for people who have been seriously injured, I am also deeply interested in scientific advances that improve their prospects for productive lives of high quality. Traumatic spinal cord injuries leading to quadriplegia and paraplegia are among the most devastating of all…

The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Department of Neurobiology and Developmental Sciences  web site offers an online brain atlas with multiple atlas images, including sectional and MRI images, of the brain and spinal cord Ken Shigley is a trial attorney in Atlanta, Georgia, who has represented numerous survivors of brain and spinal cord…

As a personal injury trial lawyer in Georgia, I have often told clients that they do not want what goes with the kind of case that makes headlines. It is better to have good health than a multi-million dollar injury case. A recent New Jersey case is a good illustration of that. In 1999, an Aramark…