How Much is a Spinal Cord Injury Worth?
June 1, 2021
Our Attorney Can Help You Get Compensation for Your Spinal Injury
Spinal cord injuries can cause tremendous pain and suffering, as they often affect vital body functions — including the ability to use arms and legs, speak, think clearly, take care of daily needs — and to work and earn a living. Victims of severe spinal injuries may wind up paralyzed and require expensive continuing care for a lifetime, and some injuries may result in death. When faced with such expenses, victims and their families wonder how much is a spinal cord injury worth. To find out, you can work with an experienced personal injury lawyer who can help determine what your case may be worth and fight for compensation through a settlement with an insurance company, a personal injury lawsuit, or both.
While successful cases may result in settlement amounts that range from the thousands to millions of dollars, the value of your specific case will depend on factors that include the individual circumstances of the accident and the severity of the injuries that resulted. While no amount of money can fully compensate for the damage a spinal injury brings, a fair settlement can alleviate your financial worries and cover the expenses and the care you may need into the future.
Pennsylvania personal injury law is complicated, making mistakes can be costly, and insurance companies will try to get you to settle for the lowest amount possible. Fortunately, the Philadelphia spinal cord injury attorneys at Wapner Newman are fully prepared to take the burden off you by handling all investigations, negotiations, and legal hurdles involved in order to get you the compensation you deserve.
How Much Compensation Will I Get for a Spinal Cord Injury?
Our spinal cord injury attorneys will investigate the accident, gather facts and evidence, and build your case accordingly.
The spinal cord injury attorneys at Wapner Newman recognize that you could face complications and be unable to work long after the initial incident. During your initial consultation, we will discuss the physical, emotional, and financial impact your injuries have on you and your family and begin building a case against all parties responsible for your injuries. We have the contacts and resources to hire the experts necessary to calculate the costs you may be facing for now into the future.
We can help determine how much compensation your spinal cord injury case is worth by:
- Gathering evidence, such as from accident scene photos and videos and by Interviewing eyewitnesses, medical providers, and first responders to find out to how the accident happened and who were the parties responsible for causing your injury. All responsible parties would be named as defendants in your case, as they each may have insurance and assets we could pursue.
- Examining your medical and rehabilitation records, including reports on emergency treatment, hospital care, and surgeries and their costs.
- Utilizing experts to reconstruct the accident and how it happened, as well as medical, life-care, disability, and rehabilitation experts to provide testimony as how your spinal injuries negatively affect your life, the suffering you and your family endure, the costs of modifications you may need to make to your home and car, and the costs of continuing care you will need.
- Gathering documentary evidence as to your lost earnings, such as payroll information as to the wages or salary you were making and the amounts you could have reasonably expected to earn in the future.
Spinal Injury Compensation Payout You May Receive
In a successful case, you can win a damage award to compensate for your losses.
There is a wide range in the amount of compensation you may receive as a payout in a spinal injury case, depending on the individual factors of the case. When spinal injuries are catastrophic and cause major effects on the quality of life or result in wrongful death, settlements may range into the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.
Factors in Compensation Amounts
Factors that may be considered in determining fair compensation include:
- The costs of medical and rehabilitative treatment
- Whether you will need continuing care
- The effect on your quality of life
- Your age, family situation, earning capacity and whether return to work is possible
- The availability of insurance and personal assets of the defendants
- The ability and skill of your attorney to argue your case
- The inclination of the individual judge and jury.
The extent, seriousness, and permanence of the injuries can also impact your compensation for a spinal injury. According to the Mayo Clinic, severity of damages from a spinal cord injury depends on where the injury is along your spine and the completeness of the injury. Complete injuries create loss of all feeling and ability to control movement below the point where the spinal cord is injured. Incomplete injuries allow retention of some motor or sensory function below the injured area.
Spinal injuries may cause either:
- Tetraplegia (quadriplegia) – Damage occurs in the upper spinal cord and affects all areas, including arms, hands, waist, legs, and pelvic organs. You may have lost control over bodily functions, including breathing, elimination, and sexual functioning.
- Paraplegia – Damage is lower on the spinal cord and affects all or part of the trunk, legs, and pelvic organs.
Damage Awards Cover Both Economic and Non-Economic Damages
Pennsylvania law allows compensatory and punitive damages for personal injuries. Our attorneys will fight for compensatory damages that will cover costs for both your economic and non-economic damages.
Economic damages are for your calculable financial losses, such as medical and rehabilitation bills, lost wages, costs of modifying a home or vehicle, continuing care and other expenses.
Noneconomic damages are for costs that do not have a specific dollar value, but negatively affect your life. This includes:
- Pain and suffering — physical pain, mental anguish, discomfort, inconvenience and distress
- Embarrassment and humiliation, such as sexual dysfunction or inability to go to the bathroom unaided
- Loss of ability to enjoy the pleasures of life, such as family life, work life, social life, relationships, and hobbies and recreation
- Disfigurement.
Punitive Damages — In some rare cases, when a catastrophic spinal cord injury was caused by a defendant who showed a willful, malicious disregard for others’ safety, punitive damages may be also be awarded. These are intended to punish the wrongdoer and help keep similar acts from occurring in the future.
Our Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys Need to Prove Negligence
To win your case, our spinal injury attorneys would have to show that your injuries were caused by another party’s negligence or fault. This means legally proving the following elements:
- Duty: The defendant owed you a duty to take reasonable care not to cause you harm.
- Breach: The defendant breached this duty and failed to exercise this care.
- Cause: The breach of duty caused your injuries.
- Damages: You suffered damages as a result.
Call an Experienced Spinal Cord Injury Attorney for Help
The Philadelphia spinal cord injury attorneys at Wapner Newman know that along with the pain and physical problems, a spinal injury brings emotional issues and major fears. Injuries may result in job loss, negatively affect relationships of all kinds, and have lasting mental effects due to serious life changes, physical limitations, and financial burdens. We are here to help by determining what your case is worth and then fighting for the settlement you deserve so you can go on to rebuild your life.
After reviewing aspects of your case, our attorneys will be able to guide you through each step of your claim and help determine what types of damages you might be able to recover. Do not delay, as Pennsylvania has a deadline for filing a personal injury lawsuit. According to title 42, section 5524, you generally have two years to file or the courts will refuse to hear your case, so contact us right away.
If you or a loved one has sustained a spinal cord injury in the Philadelphia area of Pennsylvania or anywhere in the state of New Jersey, please call Wapner Newman to schedule a free consultation at (215) 569-0900 today.