One of the most devastating impairments a person can sustain in an automotive accident is a spinal cord injury (SCI). Not only do they cause physical pain and limitations, but can also be prohibitively expensive to treat while making it impossible for the victim to continue working.
For these reasons, it’s crucially important to contact a knowledgeable personal injury attorney if you or a loved one experienced a spinal cord injury after a Missouri car accident. Beck & Beck specializes in representing people injured in car wrecks. We understand how challenging it is to pay bills after such a severe injury and can help you file a personal injury claim for a proper settlement.
Filing a Personal Injury Claim ![Highlight of spine referring to spinal cord injury]()
This action starts the process of obtaining the settlement you need to cover your bills. It’s important to do this right away, as there’s a limited amount of time in which you’re legally allowed to bring a personal injury claim in Missouri. Known as a statute of limitations, in most cases, this timeline is five years from the point at which you were injured or realized you were injured due to someone else’s negligence.
Damages You May Recover to Pay Bills After a Spinal Cord Injury
In a Missouri motor vehicle crash, there are specific economic and non-economic damages that can be claimed as part of a SCI settlement, but you need to keep thorough records and all of your receipts from the beginning of your ordeal onward. After suffering such a severe injury, there are any number of costs associated with your recovery.
Medical Bills
- Transportation expenses including ambulance or helicopter transport
- Surgeries
- Hospitalizations
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Medications
- Medical and other assistive devices
- Follow-up visits with doctors
- Out-of-pocket expenses
- Future medical needs and treatment
Lost Wages
This includes earnings you have already missed out on and the impact on your future earnings if you’re permanently disabled after the accident.
Pain and Suffering
If your life was worsened by your SCI, you might be able to include financial compensation for these damages in your claim. These might include:
- Physical and mental pain and suffering
- Decreased quality of life
- Physical impairments
- Disfigurements to your appearance such as scars or changes to your body
- Inconveniences
- Loss of companionship
- Resulting mental health conditions including post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and anxiety
Property Damage
If your vehicle was damaged or totaled, the cost to repair or replace it may be covered.
How Beck & Beck’s Knowledgable Lawyers Can Help
You may wonder if you really need a lawyer after such a life-altering tragedy as a SCI, especially while you’re trying to focus on your recovery. It’s overwhelming to also manage all of the various aspects of your claim and it’s easy to miss important details. An experienced attorney who specializes in traffic accidents with severe injuries alleviates your burdens in many ways.
Gathering and Preserving Evidence
Beck & Beck’s legal team obtains eyewitness accounts, lines up medical experts, recovers and preserves key points of evidence such as police reports and photo or video surveillance, and identifies other proof that supports your claim.
Ensuring Proper Timing
If you wait too long, you could miss the statute of limitations window of opportunity. However, taking action before all the facts are apparent might also compromise your claim. Your legal team sets the right pace for progress.
Reviewing Settlement Offers
To save money, insurance companies often offer low-ball settlements, especially in cases when a victim is seriously injured and wants to take care of expenses and outstanding debts right away. Your experienced lawyer reviews every offer and ensures you don’t accept the wrong kind of settlement.
Advocating on Your Behalf
If an insurance company refuses to communicate with you, extends a meager settlement, or denies your claim outright, you can trust your legal team to work on your behalf for rightful compensation.
Helping You Avoid Common Mistakes
What you don’t know can hurt you and your settlement. Saying the wrong thing to the other driver or an insurance adjuster, skipping medical care to save money, and accidentally accepting fault in an accident they didn’t cause are just a few of the ways victims of car accidents unknowingly undermine their case.
Bringing a Lawsuit
While it’s generally preferable to avoid a lawsuit, there are times when the victim of a traffic collision is left with no other choice. The attorneys at Beck & Beck can prepare your legal filings and ensure you’re properly represented in court. All of our cases are handled by partners, not a paralegal.
Worried About How to Afford a Lawyer?
At Beck & Beck, we don’t believe that your financial concerns should prevent you from getting the settlement you deserve. Therefore, we provide affordable, transparent legal services—and don’t require payment upfront. We only receive payment when our clients win their cases.
Because we specialize in automotive accidents, we also have a lot of experience working with hospitals to reduce our client’s medical bills. We can assist you with finding doctors who will treat you even if you don’t have insurance, too.
Finally, while you’re waiting for your settlement, we can help you get a loan to cover your immediate expenses. This allows you to focus on your physical and emotional recovery.