After any injury, you can expect to experience a change in your quality of life. Whether you have to worry about medical expenses or learn how to walk again, it can be stressful and difficult. With spinal cord injuries, this change is often significant, requiring adapting to many changes, including physical therapy, using a wheelchair, or slowly regaining the ability to walk. Some people may even have to alter or renovate their homes to better fit their needs.
As you can imagine, this all comes with a very high price tag. Making all of these adjustments, whether they’re physical or emotional, can take a massive toll on a person. However, whenHowever, when you file a lawsuit, you can recover some of your damages associated with medical bills and pain and suffering and gain some semblance of closure.
The Large Cost Associated with Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries are expensive, depending on what type of injury you incur. In general, the more severe the damage is, the more expensive it will be. Spinal cord injury patients also often have to face costs throughout the rest of their life.
The average cost of a spinal cord injury in the first year ranges from $347,484 to $1,064,716, depending on the injury severity. Each subsequent year ranges from $42,206 to $184,891 per year.
The estimated lifetime costs for spinal cord injuries average between $1,113,990 and $4,724,181, depending on the level of the injury and the age at which the injury occurs.
How Do Spinal Cord Injuries Occur?
There are many reasons why spinal cord injuries occur, most of which are due to another person’s negligence. Negligence to an act that’s committed without intent to harm but still puts another person in danger, such as texting or driving or not fixing a broken step outside one’s business.
Motor Vehicle Accidents
In the United States, there were approximately 36,096 fatalities in 2019, with 364 of those deaths occurring in Minnesota. There are about six million car accidents every year, with nearly two million of them resulting in permanent or traumatic injury, like a spinal cord injury.
Slip and Fall Accidents
Slip and fall accidents can also cause spinal cord injuries, primarily when the fall occurs from a great height. These accidents are prevalent on construction sites, in commercial locations like restaurants, grocery stores, other businesses, and rental properties.
Medical Malpractice
Unfortunately, sometimes when you’re hoping to receive treatment for an injury, medical malpractice will only make it worse. Medical malpractice likely won’t cause a spinal cord injury to occur, but it may worsen an existing one, taking it from minor to severe or even life-threatening. Medical malpractice may occur because of incorrect diagnosis, incorrect prescription type or dosage, surgical error, and more.
Treatment Options for Spinal Cord Injuries
Most people who experience spinal cord injuries receive a variety of different treatment options, including:
- Medication to reduce pain
- Immobilization, like a neck collar or a special bed
- Surgery to remove fragments of bones, herniated discs, or fractured vertebrae. Surgery is also often used to stabilize the spine to prevent additional pain or future deformity.
While treatment is essential immediately after the injury, long-term treatment is also required for most spinal cord injury patients. More patients receive long-term care in the form of rehabilitation, medication, assistive devices, stimulation devices, and more.
The treatment options for spinal cord injuries are ever-changing, with new options coming out every few years. However, these new options are often costly and not covered by insurance providers.
How Does Low Quality of Life Affect Your Case
Having a significant change to your quality of life will help you to get more compensation. Pain and suffering play a considerable part in your case’s value, and it’s measured by the amount your life has changed since your accident. Suppose you were very active before your injury, and now you’ve lost the ability to walk. In that case, your case will be more valuable than someone who lived a sedentary lifestyle and has injuries they will recover from.
If you’ve had to make extensive changes to your life, such as home renovations, job changes, and more, your case will also be valued higher.
Why it’s Important to Hire a Personal Injury Attorney for Your Spinal Cord Injury Case
If you or a loved one has experienced a spinal cord injury that has dramatically changed your/their quality of life, you should contact our talented team of attorneys as soon as possible for a free case evaluation.
Our attorneys at Sand Law have years of experience working on spinal cord injury cases. And we will work as hard as possible to get you the compensation you deserve. Not only will we negotiate a settlement on your behalf and argue your case if it goes to trial, but we’ll also speak to insurance companies and doctors on your behalf, so you can focus on resting and receiving treatment for your injury.
For more information, please contact us online or at 651-291-7263.