At any age, a spinal cord injury can be a devastating injury. It can change the course of a person’s life. While minor spinal cord injuries may heal, some significant injuries lead to a lifelong disability.
That said, when looking at the full costs of the injury, age becomes very important. According to the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation, the estimated lifetime costs for a low tetraplegia at 50 years old are $2,123,154. But the same injury suffered at 25 years old increases those lifetime costs to $3,451,781. Both people may have a right to seek compensation, depending on the way that their injury took place, but it’s clear that the financial impact is much greater for the younger person.
Why is this true?
There are two main reasons why this is true. The first is lost wages. Someone who gets injured at 50 may have been planning to retire at 65 anyway. Even if they can’t return to work, they’re only losing 15 years’ worth of wages. But someone who suffers the same injury at 25 could be losing 40 years of work. They have essentially lost their entire future career due to the injury.
The second reason is simply the medical care that is necessary. There are typically annual costs, which vary depending on the type of injury—quadriplegia, paraplegia, etc. But once again, a younger person simply has to pay for these medical treatments and the cost of in-home assistance for much longer. This is going to drive up the cost of care that they receive, assuming that they live for the same amount of time as the older individual with the same injury.
Because spinal cord injuries can be such costly and life-changing events, those who have been injured must know what legal steps to take.