Any sort of car accident has the risk of affecting you deeply, but severe injuries that require lengthy surgery and long recovery times may impact you for your whole life. Spinal cord injuries, whether incomplete or complete, pose a challenging hurdle for medical science. There is no definite cure for these injures as of yet and it often comes down to physical therapy and sometimes even luck.
If you suffer an SCI due to negligence, it may be important to know the average financial costs so that you know what to expect when seeking damages.
Financial costs
According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center, average first-year costs for an SCI range between $375,000 and nearly $1.15 million. This wide range is due to the severity of an SCI. Motor functional loss at any level generally costs less than the partial or full paralysis that a high tetraplegia injury risks. These costs include health care costs like surgery and rehabilitation but do not include indirect costs like wages or loss of productivity.
Subsequent years average from $45,000 to nearly $200,000. Estimated lifetime costs are in the millions no matter if you are 25 or 50 when you sustain an SCI.
Other costs
On top of the financial costs, SCIs pose a number of physical and emotional tolls you may experience. Some who experience minor SCIs may recover feeling and control, but others may experience numbness and pain for the rest of their life. Paralysis represents a deep change in a person’s life and the inability to perform previously easy tasks may weigh heavy on someone’s mental strength.
Regardless of the costs, securing the right amount from your insurance company or a damages case may help your peace of mind when moving forward after a traumatic injury like this.