Suffering a spinal cord injury is generally a life-changing event in a person’s life. If the damage is catastrophic, there is a chance that the person will be paralyzed. Almost one out of every 50 people in this country are paralyzed to some extent. That translates to around 5.4 million people in this country. While not all of these are due to a traumatic accident, approximately 1,462,220 of them are due to a spinal cord injury.
There are around 390,856 spinal cord injuries that are due to a motor vehicle accident and 166,745 are the result of a fall. Each of these individuals now has to deal with the difficult impacts that come with this type of injury. This includes the financial effects that come from medical care and personal care needs. Across the country, spinal cord injuries cost around $40.5 billion each year.
One issue that these individuals might experience is that health insurance likely isn’t going to cover the full cost of the injury. Much of what they need to cover will have to be paid for out-of-pocket, which can spell financial ruin. This comes at a time when the person might be unable to work because of the impacts of the injury, and disability payments will only go so far.
A person who was injured because of the negligence of another person might choose to seek compensation for the damages. This must be done quickly after the accident because state laws provide time limits. Once that time limit has passed, there isn’t any legal recourse that you can take.
