Considering the enormous costs of spinal cord injuries, P.1

Motor vehicle accidents can result in a wide variety of injuries for those who are involved in then, some more serious than others. In some cases, motor vehicle accidents can be catastrophic and life-changing, not only in the affect on the accident victim’s body, but also on the victim’s financial life.

The kinds of injuries that can have long-term, life-changing consequences for the victim especially include brain and spinal cord injuries. The costs associated with spinal cord injuries can be astronomical, and can be enough to completely destroy an individual’s financial life. This is why it is so important for accident victims who suffer serious injury to work with an experienced attorney to pursue just compensation. 

According to the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, the costs of a spinal cord injury depend on both the severity of the injury and the age at which it occurs. In terms of health care costs and living expenses, the foundation cites various figures for different severities of spinal cord injury. These figures range from nearly $350,000 in the year following the injury and over $42,000 for each subsequent year to over $1 million in the first year and almost $185,000 for each subsequent year.

The lifetime costs of a spinal cord injury, of course, involve even larger numbers. According to the Foundation, these numbers range from $1.5 million to $4.7 million for those who are injured at the age of 25, and from over $1 million to almost $2.6 million for those injured at the age of 50, depending on the severity of the injury.

In our next post, we’ll continue looking at this topic and the role of an experienced personal injury attorney in seeking damages for catastrophic motor vehicle accident injuries.