While motor vehicles make modern life more convenient, they create a lot of risks and costs as well. Car crashes are one of the leading causes of modern spinal cord injuries. Even those who are cautious and responsible at the wheel could suffer catastrophic injuries caused by someone else running a red light or texting while driving.
Those with minor to moderate injuries may get the support they need by filing an insurance claim, but those with more severe injuries will need more help. Spinal cord injuries, even incomplete injuries that leave room for potential recovery, often require a lawsuit because of how expensive they can be.
What does a spinal cord injury actually cost?
Your age when you get hurt, the location of the injury on your spine and the completion of the injury all influence how much a spinal cord injury might cost you. The higher and more serious the injury and the more of your career you still have ahead of you, the greater the financial impact.
When looking just at medical care, someone with a complete spinal cord injury to their cervical spine could have more than a million dollars in medical bills just in the first year and more than $180,000 in expenses every year for the rest of their lives. Someone with an incomplete injury will have nearly $350,000 worth of medical bills in the first year and then over $40,000 each year in care costs after that.
When you consider that there will be costs to upgrade your house and vehicle and that your injury will affect your income, you can easily see why insurance coverage might leave you with big bills. Only the most robust policies will be able to cover all of the costs of a spinal cord injury.
Exploring liability can help those with severe injuries
The sad truth is that someone who has very minimal car insurance coverage may also lack the personal assets necessary to compensate someone for a severe injury. Those dealing with the consequences of a spinal cord injury after a car crash may need to look at third-party liability.
From businesses that serve alcohol to a visibly impaired driver to manufacturers who produced defective vehicle components, there could be someone other than the driver who caused the crash with some financial culpability for the collision. Getting adequate compensation is crucial for those learning to live with major issues like spinal cord injuries.