Tending to your injuries after a motor vehicle accident is rarely a free affair, but suffering a spinal cord injury brings those costs to all-time highs. These costs include the financial but include physical and emotional tolls as well.
Knowing these costs may not make paying them feel any better, but it may prepare you for them.
The physical and financial costs
As the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center details, the average yearly expenses of an SCI come down to how severe the damage is.
Since the spine is the control center for your central nervous system, any damage to it may result in motor function loss but also includes full-body paralysis.
First-year costs, including surgery and physical therapy, range between $375,000 and nearly $1.15 million depending on how widespread your paralysis is. Subsequent years average between $45,000 and upwards of $200,000.
This financial cost does not give much insight into how being paralyze may affect you on a daily basis. Since medical science has yet to devise a cure for SCIs, this level of paralysis is a new normal that you may have to work with your entire life going forward.
The mental and emotional costs
The physical and financial costs of an SCI are immense and that might weigh on your mind as you recover and in the years following. They may lead to depression, anger or leave you feeling overwhelmed.
When you suffer an SCI, it affects every part of you and your life. Surgery and rehabilitation take a long time and your earning capacity in your career may diminish. Seeking maximum compensation to help ease the financial burden may help alleviate the pressure on your mental and emotional state.