Rehabilitation and recovery after a spinal cord injury takes a long time. Depending on the nature of the injury, rehab and medical care can continue for several months, years, or even decades after the initial injury. Individuals with a complete spinal cord injury leading to permanent loss of function typically need lifelong care of some kind. Even those with incomplete spinal cord injuries who are more likely to regain mobility and function often require extensive care.
Understandably, the cost of care is high, ranging from several thousands of dollars into the millions. This is where legal support comes in.
Just as you need a good team of healthcare professionals helping you with recovery after your injury, you also need a legal team on your side. An experienced spinal cord injury lawyer and their team will handle the legal and financial aspects of the accident so you can focus on recovering.
Securing effective legal representation is critical in ensuring you get the compensation you need to cover current and future expenses related to the accident. Here’s how an experienced spinal cord injury lawyer can help you after an accident.
Determining Liability – Who Pays?
The majority of the time, expenses related to a spinal cord injury are paid by insurance. Determining liability – who is at fault for the injury – is a key first step in identifying which insurance policy (or policies) covers the accident.
Depending on the situation, claims may be brought against the at-fault party’s auto insurance, homeowners insurance, general liability insurance, or umbrella insurance. If the injured party is responsible for the accident, they may be covered by their health insurance and/or MedPay/PIP coverage on their auto insurance policy. (Read more about MedPaycoverage in South Carolina here on our blog.)
A spinal cord injury attorney helps in this process by investigating the accident to determine who is at fault and which insurance policy (or policies) to pursue with a claim. What if you are the party at fault? An attorney can still help you with the legal aspects of the accident and may even be able to negotiate lower medical bills on your behalf.
Calculating Long-Term Expenses – How Much?
Long-term medical and rehab support for spinal cord injuries is extremely expensive. Estimates lifetime costs of care range from around $1 million to over $5 million, according to data gathered by the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center. (PDF here.)
One of the biggest challenges is calculating how much compensation is needed to fully cover the immediate and future expenses relating to a spinal cord injury. Legal claims are made and settled within a few years of the accident, with no opportunity to pursue additional compensation in the future, even if that future care is directly related to the initial accident. That means it’s critical to consider all possible future injury-related expenses and include them when seeking compensation.
Experienced spinal cord injury attorneys know this and work with trusted experts to determine how much money will be needed for rehab and recovery. They will often contribute their own expertise to a life care plan, which is a comprehensive document listing the expected expenses required to care for the injured party now and for the remained of their life. This is crucial in ensuring that the amount of compensation pursued will cover current and future medical bills, rehab expenses, services such as OT and PT, devices such as wheelchairs, and more.
The life care plan is not only a useful guide for the long-term care of the patient, but an important tool that an attorney can use when negotiating a settlement or pursuing litigation.
Pursuing Compensation
After gathering evidence and building a case, your spinal cord injury lawyer will take steps to pursue damages. In addition to medical and rehab expenses, compensation could include lost wages, noneconomic damages like pain and suffering, and, in rare cases, punitive damages.
Most claims are settled out of court after negotiations. This is preferred by most parties because going to trial is expensive and time consuming, and the outcome is not guaranteed. However, sometimes insurance companies are not prepared to offer a fair and full settlement, and the only way to get compensation to cover a lifetime of care is by taking the case to court.
Call the Spinal Cord Injury Attorneys at The Carolina Law Group
Spinal cord injuries are a type of personal injury. But not all personal injury lawyers are prepared to successfully handle a spinal cord injury case. Experienced spinal cord injury attorneys understand how these injuries are different and how to build a strong case for their client. They are aware of the challenges of spinal cord injury cases and are prepared to face those challenges head on.
If you’ve sustained a spinal cord injury that requires short-term and/or long-term medical care and support, call the spinal cord injury attorneys at The Carolina Law Group today. We have experience helping injured parties get the compensation they need for rehabilitation and recovery. Your number one priority is your health and healing. Our number one priority is handling the legal matters so you don’t have to. We investigate, build a case, help create a life care plan, negotiate with insurance companies, and, if necessary, go to trial if that’s what it takes to get full and fair compensation. We work on contingency, so we only get paid if you do. You have nothing to lose – call us today to schedule your free, no-obligation consultation and tell us your story.
The Carolina Law Group has four offices in South Carolina for your convenience: Greenville (principal office; call 864.312.4444), Greer (principal office; call 864.757.5555), Spartanburg (principal office; call 864.312.4444) & West Columbia (principal office; call 803.881.1110).
Call us at one of our four offices or contact us online to schedule your free consultation with one of our attorneys. Our business hours are Monday – Thursday 8:30am – 5:30pm & Friday 8:30 am – 5 pm. Weekend and evening hours by appointment only. Our Greenville, SC law firm offers Spanish, Hindi, and Gujarati language translation services for your convenience.