Spinal Cord Injury Costs

Spinal cord injuries involve a lot of action right after people sustain them. They result from serious accidents, commonly auto accidents and slips or falls. The first few days most likely involve a trip to the emergency room, immediate surgery and a long hospital stay.

After the initial healthcare costs, victims have a chance at a full recovery depending on the injury. Many SCIs, however, leave permanent damage and disability in their wake. Understanding the kinds of costs that live with people may help to anticipate how to tackle them.

Mental and emotional costs

SCIs leave people with a lot to adjust to. Disability such as motor control loss or outright paralysis demands new methods of living. This might mean reckoning with the inability to do things that were previously easy. This may affect a person’s mental and emotional health. According to the Model Systems Knowledge Translation Center, about one in 20 Americans experience depression—whereas those in the SCI population experience it at a rate of one in five.

Subsequent financial costs

As the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center details, serious SCIs leave financial costs in the tens of thousands of dollars even in subsequent years. Motor function loss averages around $45,000 per year after the first. Catastrophic paralysis resulting from high tetraplegia may cost as high as $200,000 in subsequent years.

Handling these costs through therapy, accessibility adjustments and financial compensation is vital to living with a new normal like SCI-related paralysis. When seeking support for these costs, it is important to learn as much as possible regarding a specific SCI case.