How Much Compensation Can I Recover for Spinal Cord Damage in Florida?
A spinal cord injury is damage to any part of the spinal cord or the nerves that immediately surround the spinal column. These are devastating injuries. Spinal cord damage can cause permanent loss of sensation and/or bodily function. The National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC) reports that approximately 282,000 Americans are currently living with the ongoing trauma of past spinal cord damage.
This raises an important question: How much financial compensation is available for spinal cord damage? The answer is ‘it depends’—a personal injury settlement or verdict should always account for the full extent of a victim’s actual damages. Here, our personal injury lawyers provide a more detailed overview of how spinal cord injury compensation is calculated in Florida.
Personal Injury Compensation Depends on Losses: Know the Categories of Damages
In Florida, injured victims are entitled to recover compensation for economic and non-economic losses. To know the value of a spinal cord injury claim, one must calculate the victim’s actual damages. Here are the basic categories of damages that should be considered when calculating a spinal cord injury settlement:
- Medical Bills: As a starting point, all medical bills and related costs should be included within a personal injury settlement or personal injury verdict. Make sure you carefully document medical care. Victims and their families should not be left dealing with out-of-pocket medical costs .
- Ongoing and Future Medical Care: Spinal cord damage often requires ongoing and future medical care. These future costs should be addressed.
- Rehabilitative Treatment: Victims often need extensive rehabilitative treatments and therapies. Physical and psychological rehabilitation is a compensable loss.
- Loss of Income and Loss of Earning Power: A spinal cord injury may make it impossible for a person to return to work on a full-time basis. Lost wages and loss of earning power should be compensated.
- Pain and Suffering: Spinal cord injuries are painful. An injured victim’s pain and suffering must be compensated as a non-economic damage.
- Permanent Disability and Impairment: Finally, spinal cord injuries frequently result in permanent disabilities or impairments. These non-economic damages must be considered and compensated in the personal injury claims process.
Unfortunately, corporations and insurance companies often make it difficult for victims and their families to get the full compensation they deserve under the law. Do not settle a spinal cord injury claim for less than the total value of your damages. Our Florida spinal cord injury attorneys will fight to maximize your financial recovery.
Call Our Catastrophic Injury Attorneys for Legal Help
At Pike & Lustig, LLP, our Miami personal injury lawyers have extensive experience handling catastrophic injury claims. If you or your loved one suffered spinal cord damage in an accident, you need reliable legal representation. Call us today for a free, no obligation consultation. With law office locations in West Palm Beach, Wellington and Miami, we handle catastrophic injury claims throughout Southeastern Florida, including in Boca Raton, Hialeah, Fort Lauderdale, Miami Beach, and Jupiter.
Resource:
nscisc.uab.edu/Public/Facts%202016.pdf
https://www.turnpikelaw.com/slip-and-fall-accident-law-what-is-constructive-knowledge/