When someone suffers a spinal cord injury, there will likely be extensive costs in the first year. But it’s also very important to consider the potential long-term costs, which have a lot to do with the age of the person at the time of injury and the type of injury that occurs.
For example, someone could suffer from paraplegia, and it is estimated to cost just over half a million dollars in the first year. For every year after that, the person will see nearly $70,000 in annual costs. This means that someone who suffers from paraplegia when they are 25 years old could have lifetime costs of over $2,300,000. Someone who is 50 years old could have costs that are over $1,500,000. When considering options to seek financial compensation or looking at a settlement, it’s very important to consider these long-term costs.
The true cost could be even higher
The above estimates were created by the Christopher Reeve Foundation, and they directly note that these are just medical costs. They look at additional living expenses or healthcare costs, from medical bills to necessary medication.
But they do not include indirect costs due to the way that a spinal cord injury changes your life. For instance, someone with an SCI could see significant losses in wages, especially if they can’t work again. Their earning capacity could be lowered, or their productivity could go down. These lost wages may add up to even higher lifetime totals than the medical bills.
In other words, no matter how you look at the costs, spinal cord injuries are incredibly expensive. Those who have been injured must know about their legal options.