Paralysis represents a temporary or permanent condition when a person cannot move one or more muscle. The paralyzed area of the body is also characterized by the loss of sensibility. Permanent paralysis usually occurs when the nervous system is damaged.

Generally the condition is evoked by a stroke or trauma happened to the nervous system or the brain. Poliomyelitis and a number of other illnesses can lead to the condition as well as botulism, paralytic shellfish poisoning, and some poisons (especially the ones affecting the nervous system).

Paralyses can be of different types which depend on what evoked it. For instance, Bell’s palsy causes localized paralysis. In this case only a small area of the person’s body is affected. Unilateral paralysis stands for a condition when only one side of the body is immovable; when both are affected the paralysis is called bilateral. Weakness in the whole body after a stroke causes global paralysis; means weakness affecting on one side of the body is called hemiplegia.

Injury to the spinal cord evokes the severest kind of paralysis. Damage to the lower spinal cord is able to lead to paraplegia when either legs or arms are immovable. In some severe cases when a person can not even eat, he or she has to be feed with the help of feeding tubes.

Spinal cord injury that leads to paralysis is a frequent result of a car accident, gunshot, or falling. Other possible reasons that can trigger the condition are certain diseases (Lou Gehrig’s as well) and cases of medical malpractice, too.

Spinal cord injury can have different range of severity depending on the type of injury. There are differentiated a complete injury and an incomplete one. The former means that there is no sensation below the level of damage and no movement; it is also characterized by the symmetry of the paralyses – both sides are affected equally. The latter means that a patient may be able to move one limb more than another and even feel some of the paralyzed parts; paralysis is also characterized by asymmetry – one side is affected more than the other.

Paralysis is a very hard and trying condition both for a person who suffers from it and his relatives and friends; especially if it is diagnosed as permanent. If the reason of the condition is medical malpractice, falling, botulism, accident involving a moving vehicle, medication after-effect or clinical tests you have got a right to bring a lawsuit. This will not make the whole thing easier but at least may help with the treatment funds.