If you are involved in a car accident and suffer a spinal cord injury, it could change the course of your life. These injuries are often permanent, so even though some level of healing may be achieved, most spinal cord injuries will never fully heal.
This means that the lifetime costs of that SCI must be considered when seeking compensation. If another driver caused the car accident that led to your harm. For example, the injured party may deserve compensation for far more than their immediate medical bills and lost wages. They have to look at the big picture and how the SCI is going to affect their finances for years or even decades to come.
Looking at annual costs
One place to start is by considering one’s projected annual cost. For example, an injury known as low tetraplegia happens between the C5 and C8 vertebrae. According to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, this comes with an estimated first-year cost of over $769,000. But there will also be subsequent costs of more than $113,000 every year that the person has to live with the injury.
In this sense, a person’s age is also an important factor to keep in mind. If the person who suffers a low tetraplegia is 50 years old, then the Foundation estimates that their lifetime costs will be over $2.1 million. But if they are 25 years old at the time of injury, then those lifetime costs increase to over $3.4 million.
This example just looks at one specific injury, and every case is going to be unique. But it does help to show why you need to look at the long-term costs when seeking compensation for catastrophic injuries after a car accident.