As a victim of a spinal cord injury, you may be suffering from the financial burdens of expensive medical bills and lost wages. You urgently need help to pay for your regular bills as well as your medical care. This is not a minor injury. You will need care that goes far beyond basic medical treatment.
Compensation will not change the physical outcome of your injury, but it can make it possible to go forward with your life.
Possible compensatory damages include:
- Medical expenses: Emergency medical treatment is just the beginning. Medical expenses range from hospital care, surgery, and medications to rehabilitation and adaptive devices. In a South Carolina spinal cord injury case, the judge or jury may also include compensation for future medical costs to cover the ongoing treatment.
- Lost income: To pay for basic living expenses, the injured person will need compensation for lost wages. In the case of a spinal cord injury, the injured person may never return to their previous job or even do the same kind of work as in the past.
- In-home assistance and renovations: After a spinal cord injury, small, everyday tasks you once took for granted can become difficult or impossible. Each situation is different, but most people need help with transportation, child care, cooking, cleaning, pet care, and more. They may need assistive equipment, such as a wheelchair ramp or a chair lift. They may need special home remodeling just to continue to live at home.
- Pain, suffering, and emotional distress: The physical pain is bad enough, but the injured person should also receive compensation for the emotional trauma, distress, and anxiety that often accompany such an injury.
- Loss of consortium: This type of compensation is for the loss of the victim’s personal relationships.
- Punitive damages: Courts award punitive damages in certain circumstances, such as when the defendant’s behavior was especially egregious.