Nerve damage from electric shock is a serious injury. It can interfere with activities such as breathing and heart function. It can affect a person’s ability to walk. It can prevent the brain from processing pain signals from the body. Symptoms often include numbness and tingling sensations.
If you or a loved one has suffered neuropathy (malfunctions to the nerves) from an electrical accident, an experienced electrocution lawyer can help you and your family protect your legal rights and ensure that you recover the best settlement possible in your case. An electrocution lawyer can also help to identify all the responsible parties.
Can electric shock cause nerve damage?
Electric shock can cause nerve damage. As electrical current passes through a person’s body, the person’s nerve tissue is unable to resist the current, causing tissue to be damaged. Nerve damage can also cause a person to suffer pain, tingling, numbness and weakness. A person who has been zapped by electricity will often have difficulty moving his or her body, sometimes for the rest of their life if the neurological injury is significant and permanent.
Can a minor electric shock cause nerve damage?
Most doctors who treat victims of electrical injuries say there is no such thing as a “minor” electrical shock. A minor electric shock can cause serious nerve damage. The electrical current that flows through a person’s body as a result of even a low voltage electric shock can still be very dangerous. Not only can a so-called “minor” jolt of electricity still cause neurological complications, but it can cause injury and damage to a person’s heart, internal organs, blood vessels and central nervous system.
What is neuropathy after being shocked by electricity?
Neuropathy after being shocked by electricity is damage to the peripheral nerves, which are the neural pathways along which a person’s brain and spinal cord send messages to the person’s limbs and muscles. These messages allow a person’s body to feel sensation and to move.
Neurological complications from an electrical accident can interfere with and can interrupt the brain’s ability to communicate with limbs, organs and muscles, resulting in weakness, numbness and pain as well as difficulty with normal bodily functions such as digestion, urination and circulation.
What nerves can be affected?
There are three types of nerves in a person’s body that can be affected by nerve damage from electric shock: (1) autonomic nerves; (2) motor nerves; and (3) sensory nerves.
Here is more detail about these three types of nerves:
- Autonomic nerves control the involuntary or partially voluntary activities of your body (i.e., that you do not control consciously), such as breathing, heart function, blood pressure, digestion, and temperature regulation.
- Motor nerves control a person’s body movements and actions, such as walking, talking and holding objects.
- Sensory nerves relay information back and forth between a person’s skin and muscles and his or her brain and central nervous system. The information is processed to enable the person to feel pain and other sensations.
Symptoms
The symptoms of nerve damage from electric shock include: (1) Numbness; (2) Tingling or prickling sensation in hands or feet; (3) Burning sensation; (4) Painful, stabbing sensation; (5) Muscle weakness; (6) Muscle twitching; (7) Inability to sense pain; and (8) inability sense a change in temperature.
Diagnosing your neurological injury
To diagnose your neurological injury after your electrical accident, your doctor may send you to a nerve specialist for an electrodiagnostic assessment. The diagnostic tests that may be used include: (1) a nerve conduction study; (2) needle electromyography; and (3) a tissue biopsy.
Treatment
Treatment for your neurological injuries may include: (1) surgery; (2) physical therapy; (3) occupational therapy; (4) use of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) (electrodes emit electrical current to prevent pain signals from reaching the brain); and (5) medication.
Do you have a case for nerve damage from electric shock at work?
If you have suffered nerve damage from electric shock at work, then you will likely have a claim for Workers Compensation benefits against your employer and a claim for pain and suffering compensation against any responsible third parties. Often, people who are injured at work are told that Workers Compensation benefits are the “sole, exclusive remedy,” but in many instances there are third parties and independent contractors who an experienced electrocution lawyer can identify to recover additional compensation for pain and suffering.
Get help from an experienced electrical injury lawyer
If you or someone you love is a victim of serious personal injury or death caused by electricity including neurological injuries after being shocked by electricity, you can call and speak with Jeff Feldman, arguably the nation’s most experienced electrical accident and electrocution attorney. Jeff has litigated electrocution cases and electrical injury cases in multiple states for families whose loved ones were injured or killed by an electrical accident, such as faulty consumer products, negligence in the building and construction industry, downed or low-hanging overhead power cables, and defective or poorly maintained pool equipment. Jeff also consults with injury lawyers throughout the country on electrical injury and wrongful death cases involving electricity. You can call Jeff toll free at (947) 282-4269 for a free consultation.
