Motor vehicle liability insurance is a critical protection that makes it reasonably safe for people to drive on public roads. If you get into a crash caused by another driver, you at least know that there should be insurance benefits for the damage to your vehicle and any medical costs you incur.
Unfortunately, bad drivers don’t always have enough insurance to protect the victims in car crashes. Someone with a history of bad driving, for example, may have opted for the lowest amount of coverage possible because of how prohibitively expensive a policy is for them. Individuals with lower incomes may make similar decisions and carry the lowest amount of insurance under state law.
If a car crash causes a spinal cord injury that affects you or a member of your family, the insurance of the other driver may not be enough to cover the costs of the injury.
Spinal cord injuries can cost millions of dollars
Every spinal cord injury is unique. They take place at different parts of the spine and may involve pinching, tearing or total severing of the spinal cord. Depending on the location of the injury, whether it is complete or incomplete, and the age of the victim, a spinal cord injury could cost more than a million dollars just in the first year after the injury takes place.
The victim will likely continue to incur tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of dollars worth of costs and lost wages per year for as long as the injury persists. For those with complete spinal cord injuries, that means a lifetime of lost earning potential and medical costs.
Personal injury claims help when insurance coverage isn’t enough
When your medical costs already exceed the insurance available after a crash and you haven’t even begun to calculate your lost wages yet, you may need to explore secondary options for compensation.
A personal injury claim against a driver who causes a crash may be one choice. Depending on where the crash occurred, you could also potentially have a claim against a third party, such as a bar or restaurant that over-served a drunk driver or a company than manufactured a faulty vehicle part that caused a crash.
Discussing the scenario that led to your injury and the costs your family has accumulated so far with an attorney can give you a better idea of what to do next when dealing with the financial fallout of a spinal cord injury.
