Spinal cord injuries are a serious risk in motorcycle accidents and severe car accidents. It’s the type of injury that can change a person’s entire life. After all, complete healing is not always possible, and so they could have long-term mobility issues and other disabilities.
Immediately after it happens, a spinal cord injury can be very expensive. Someone who is seeking financial compensation after becoming paraplegic, for example, could have more than $500,000 in costs the first year that they’re dealing with this disorder. This is an estimate from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Association, but the costs could be even higher, depending on the specifics of the injury in the accident that caused it.
Seeking full compensation
However, for each subsequent year that the person is paraplegic, it’s estimated that they will have yearly costs of right around $70,000. Even if they only live with the condition for the next 10 years, that could create costs of around $700,000, which is more than what they had to pay in the first year.
In other words, it’s very important to seek full compensation for all costs related to an injury. Some people are tempted to take the first settlement that they get. But if that offer just covers the costs of the spinal cord injury over the first year, it might appear good at the time, but it may not actually provide proper compensation. The individual would just keep falling $70,000 into debt every year due to the ongoing costs. Those need to be considered when determining what just compensation actually looks like.
If you and your family are in this situation, then, it’s very important for you to understand all of the legal steps you can take.