Spinal cord injury screener

Estimates only. SCI damages require a certified life care planner and economic expert for accurate projections. This tool provides a general range. Always consult a catastrophic injury attorney. See our full disclaimer.

Spinal cord injury compensation screener

Injury level and paralysis type

Age at time of injury

Annual income before injury ($)

Medical bills to date ($) Initial hospitalization and acute rehab for severe SCI typically runs $500,000 to $1.5 million.

Cause of injury

Liability strength

Your spinal cord injury compensation estimate

Get a free SCI case review

A catastrophic injury attorney will assess your full lifetime damages at no cost. No fee unless you win.

Why SCI cases produce the largest verdicts

Complete cervical spinal cord injuries (quadriplegia) regularly produce verdicts and settlements in the $10 million to $30 million range. The math is straightforward: a 25-year-old quadriplegic with 55 remaining life years and annual care costs of $200,000 has $11 million in future care alone - before adding past medical bills, lost wages, and pain and suffering.

SCI litigation requires the same multidisciplinary expert team as TBI cases: a spinal cord physiatrist to establish the injury's permanence, a life care planner to project lifetime costs, and an economist to calculate present value of future losses. The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation's cost data provides a reference point - lifetime costs for a high cervical SCI victim injured at age 25 exceed $5 million in care costs alone.

Incomplete vs. complete SCI

ASIA classification distinguishes complete (ASIA A - no motor or sensory function below injury level) from incomplete (ASIA B through D - varying degrees of preserved function). Incomplete injuries have more variable prognoses and potentially lower lifetime care costs, but the damages remain enormous when significant function is lost. Cauda equina injuries, while not producing classic paralysis, cause devastating bowel, bladder, and sexual dysfunction that severely impacts quality of life.

Structured settlements in SCI cases

Due to the enormous lifetime care costs involved, SCI settlements often include structured settlement annuities that pay out over the victim's lifetime rather than in a single lump sum. This provides guaranteed income for ongoing care. Your attorney negotiates both the total settlement amount and the optimal payment structure, which has significant tax and financial planning implications.

Frequently asked questions

A certified life care planner interviews the SCI victim, reviews medical records, and consults with treating physicians to build a comprehensive projection of all future needs. This includes attendant care hours, physician visits, hospitalizations, medications, equipment (power wheelchairs, ventilators, communication devices), home modifications, accessible vehicle modifications, and recreational therapy. The plan is updated every few years as needs change. Annual care costs for high cervical SCI with ventilator dependence can exceed $250,000 per year.

Yes. When family members provide care that would otherwise be provided by paid professional caregivers, the reasonable market value of that care is recoverable as damages. This is sometimes called gratuitous care or replacement services damages. A life care planner assigns market rates to the care hours provided by family, and those amounts are included in the damages claim. This can be a substantial component of SCI damages when family members have sacrificed employment to provide full-time care.

Concurrent SCI and TBI - sometimes called dual diagnosis - produces the most complex and highest-value catastrophic injury cases. The combination affects every aspect of the victim's life and significantly increases both care needs and damages. A specialized catastrophic injury attorney with experience in dual-diagnosis cases is essential. The expert team expands to include both SCI and TBI specialists, and the life care plan must address the interaction of both conditions.

Workers compensation covers workplace SCIs but provides limited benefits compared to what a third-party lawsuit can recover. Workers comp doesn't cover pain and suffering. However, if the SCI was caused by a third party - a negligent driver, a defective product, a contractor on a job site - you can pursue both workers comp and a third-party personal injury lawsuit simultaneously. The workers comp lien on your lawsuit recovery is a technical issue your attorney handles. Third-party recovery is often vastly larger than workers comp alone.

Personal injury SOLs apply, typically 2 to 3 years from the accident date. In practice, SCI attorneys file much sooner - accident scenes need to be documented, vehicles need to be preserved for inspection, and corporate defendants need to be put on notice to preserve records and electronic data. Evidence retention letters go out within days of the accident in serious SCI cases. Never wait near the SOL deadline in a catastrophic injury case.