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The Costs of Spinal Cord and Brain injuries

At Breit, Drescher and Imprevento, our focus has always been on helping injured Virginians get back on their feet without having to bear the enormous financial burden that comes from being hospitalized. It gives us a sense of pride when a client is eventually given a clean bill of health and is able to get his or her life back on track.

Unfortunately, sometimes our clients suffer from injuries that are impossible to recover from. Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI’s) and spinal cord injuries are the sort of injuries that affect the victim for the rest of their lives. There is no miracle surgery, medicine, or physical therapy that can restore a damaged spinal cord, or fix the effects of a Traumatic Brain Injury.

Types of Spinal Injuries

What makes the bones of the spinal cord different than others is that they serve as protection for crucial neural pathways. These bundles of neurons work as a switchboard from the brain to the rest of the body, and are responsible for allowing humans to move and feel. They are extraordinarily fragile in that once they are damaged, they do not heal.

The closer in proximity to the neck and brain that the neural pathways are, the more important they are to the proper function of the rest. For example, damage to a vertebrae that is numbered higher in the C Category (typically C-4 or higher) results in a complete lack of function in all the neuron pathways that exist below. Quadriplegia is a condition that results is a complete lack of feeling and motion from the neck down. A typical C-4 quadriplegic cannot even breathe without the aid of a respirator.

Less severe paralytic conditions occur when there is damage in either the T or L Category of vertebrae, resulting in paralysis from the chest or waist down. Some L Category paraplegics are able to retain some level of self mobility through the use of wheelchairs.

Incomplete Injuries

An incomplete spinal injury victim has had some vertebral nerve clusters damaged, but not others. In the event of any spinal cord injury, swelling around the area of the injury might affect areas that weren’t directly injured. Recovery of function in these areas can return anywhere from 3 days to eighteen months. Movement of one limb but not another many be possible, or the victim might be able to still retain feeling in an extremity even though he or she cannot move it. While these injuries are not as severe as complete spinal injuries, they are still life-altering and emotionally devastating for the victim.

Since the human brain is so complex, an injury to the brain might not be immediately obvious. While many victims of TBI’s are able to continue to function in society or even continue with their jobs, it shouldn’t be assumed that absolutely nothing has changed. TBI’s routinely cause emotional or cognitive difficulties which have real and lasting effects.

Some common after-effects of TBI’s are:

Visual Impairment, Lack of Depth Perception, Difficulty with Spatial Relations, Auditory Damage, Cognitive Difficulties, Lack of Emotional Control, Agitated or Childish Behavior, Loss of Smell

What makes these injuries so tragic is that the lifelong afflictions bring lifelong expenses with them, and the expenses are steep. The first year of treatment for quadriplegia costs over $700,000, and the expenses after that are over $100,000 a year. The overwhelming majority of Americans don’t make anywhere near the amount of money that it takes to sustain the required medical care for a spinal injury.

Traumatic Brain Injuries are equally costly. There are over 2 million brain injuries every year, and the combined cost of medical bills and lost income for all of these injuries are estimated at $25 billion.

These are injuries that require constant medical care, and they also require an enormous adjustment for both the victims and their families. The victim of a spinal cord injury has to learn how to adjust in a world where something as seemingly trivial as a curb can make getting from place to place impossible. There is also the idea that the life expectancy of a victim of a spinal injury is well below normal. Friends and loved ones have to learn how to help manage the condition and provide emotional support. Traumatic Brain Injuries can cause radical changes in behavior, which is just as difficult for families and friends to come to terms with. An additional problem is that most of the families of these victims can no longer rely on the injury victim to contribute financially. In today’s economy, where most families live in two paycheck households out of necessity, combining the medical costs of these injuries with the sudden removal of half of the earnings can quickly push a family into bankruptcy.

The medical and emotional costs of either TBI’s or spinal injures are impossible to endure without the financial assistance that insurers are, theoretically, supposed to extend to those that take out policies. Unfortunately, many victims of spinal or brain injuries meet fierce resistance from insurers, who suddenly go from being “a good neighbor” to being a wall of heartless denial and cruelty. An injury that will require extensive or lifelong treatment is when the insurance companies send out their big guns to minimize liability. They will offer lowball settlements, exploit any conceivable loophole, or simply deny needed and legitimate claims as “frivolous.” While it might be more difficult for them to avoid liability with spinal injuries, they do their best to prove that the victim of a TBI is “faking it.”

Due to the “profit first” mentality of insurance companies, it is critical that those who suffer from spinal or traumatic brain injuries obtain experienced legal counsel. Negotiations with insurers are naturally contentious, and they become even more so iif the injury requires extensive and lifelong care.

At Breit, Drescher and Imprevento, we have a long history of obtaining successful settlements and judgments for our clients. In the course of fighting for their rights, we routinely consult with some of the foremost medical experts in Virginia, and use their expertise and testimony and our knowledge of the law to make it clear to any and all concerned that our clients are victims. If you or a loved one has received a life changing spinal or brain injury, contact our offices for a free consultation.

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