Last week, a wrestler at Chichester High School suffered a serious spinal injury after colliding with another wrestler during a practice that has left him partially paralyzed.  The boy, 16-year old Mazerreti Mitchell, has been in the hospital since the spinal injury.

This Monday, a Pennsylvania Judge ruled to place Mitchell under the care of Delaware County’s child-welfare officials until his condition improves.  Mitchell’s mother, a graduate of the Trinity School of Natural Healing, has referred to his injury as a “bruised spine” and did not want to follow the hospital’s doctors’ recommendations and treatments.

In Pennsylvania, parents cannot be prosecuted for child abuse in situations like this one, but a county can “seek court-ordered medical intervention when the lack of medical or surgical care threatens this child’s life or long-term health.”

Last week, State Senator Tina Tartaglione took her first steps on the Senate floor since a boat accident left her spinal cord seriously injured.  Two of Tartaglione’s vertebrae were crushed and her nerves were severely damaged.  Fortunately, her spinal cord was not severed in the accident and doctors believed that the paralysis she was suffering could be only temporary.

In 2005, Tartaglione stated, “What happened is the wake came up from the boat, and I came crashing down.  I had no feeling from the waist down.  No feeling and no sensation”.

The entire Pennsylvania Senate and former members watched Tartaglione lift herself out of her wheelchair and walk to her seat for the first time since 2003.  ”These people have stood behind me through my worst days and my best, through disappointment and discovery, through setbacks and success,” said Tartaglione on Tuesday.

If you or someone you love has been the victim of a spinal injury, contact the Harrisburg spinal injury lawyers of Lowenthal & Abrams, P.C. at 610-667-7511 to learn more about your rights.