Our Virginia Car Accident Attorneys Explains the Types of Compensation You Could Recover After a Car Accident Spinal Cord Injury
Car accidents are stressful enough without having to cope with the pain and extended recovery of severe injuries. Unfortunately, car accidents can have devastating physical and emotional consequences. The more serious the crash, the more severe the possible injuries. The harm you suffer as a result of someone else’s negligence or recklessness may not just include broken bones but dangerous spinal cord injuries, as well. To add insult to injury, your injury and the trauma you suffer as a result can affect your financial well-being as your medical bills pile up. Our experienced car accident lawyers at Dulaney, Lauer, & Thomas are here to help you understand your legal options for seeking the compensation you need to recover from your spinal cord injury.
Spinal Cord Injuries
Spinal cord injuries involve damage to the spinal cord that causes full or partial loss of motor control and function. The effects may be temporary or permanent, and they may leave patients paralyzed in the lower half of their body (paraplegic) or in all four limbs (quadriplegic).
The spinal cord sends commands and information back and forth from the brain to the body and back. The spinal cord’s importance for motor function and reflexes means victims of spinal cord injury suffer a wide range of health problems.
Possible Compensation for Spinal Cord Injuries Caused by Car Accidents
If another driver’s negligence or recklessness caused the accident that led to your spinal cord injury, you may have a legal right to compensation for your physical, financial, and emotional losses.
Economic damages include compensation for your concrete financial losses, including:
- Medical bills
- Property damage
- Lost wages for missed work
- Lost earning capacity if your injury caused disability preventing you from returning to work
Non-economic damages include compensation for your subjective losses, including:
- Pain and suffering
- Emotional distress
- Loss of consortium
- Lost quality of life
- Loss of enjoyment of life if your injury prevents you from engaging in activities you enjoy
How to Determine the Value of Your Spinal Cord Injury Claim
Although it’s not uncommon for spinal cord injury cases to be worth over $1 million, the potential value of your case depends on several factors. These factors include the severity and expected duration of your injury and its effects, how many surgeries you need, how much rehabilitation your injury requires, your pre-injury work and education, whether or not you suffer neurological damage, and whether or not you need medical devices during and after your recovery.
Complications may also lead to additional compensation. For example, if the victim requires breathing assistance, they may need a mechanical respirator, increasing the costs of their medical care.
The Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation estimates that just the first year after injury costs $347,484 for any level of incomplete motor function and $1,064,716 for high tetraplegia. The lifetime costs for a 25-year-old suffering from incomplete motor function can reach $1,578,274, while a 25-year-old suffering from high tetraplegia would incur expenses up to $4,724,181. These costs don’t even include expenses like lost wages, productivity, and fringe benefits.
An experienced personal injury attorney can estimate the potential value of your case and advocate for your right to compensation.
Determining Fault in Virginia Car Accident Cases
Unfortunately, the other driver or their insurance company may try to claim you share in the fault for the accident or deny their own fault entirely. Since Virginia is a contributory negligence state, if you are found to have shared even minor fault in the accident, you may lose your right to any compensation.
Your attorney can investigate the crash and look for any evidence to strengthen your case. They can use police reports, traffic camera footage, witness statements, expert testimony, and more. Our car accident attorneys at Dulaney, Lauer, & Thomas have the resources you need to build a case and fight to protect your rights.
