A car accident can lead to immediate medical bills, repair bills and a host of other costs. In just a few seconds, you could find yourself facing thousands of dollars in bills that you have no way to pay. Unfortunately, that may be just the beginning.
When you suffer from a long-term injury, you can lose a lot of future earnings because you can’t return to work. It’s bad enough to be out for a few weeks or even months while you heal, but what if your injury never heals? What if it becomes a disability? You have to consider the fact that wage losses could equal or outpace all of your other bills.
What injuries last longest?
Doctors tend to have fairly set timelines for expected healing when looking at standard injuries like broken bones. That’s not to say that you won’t lose wages; you absolutely could miss a little time. But you at least know that you’re going to be able to fully return to work.
With long-lasting injuries, like spinal cord injuries and traumatic brain injuries, things become much less clear. That back injury may refuse to heal and give you constant pain for the rest of your life. You could have limited mobility or entirely lose the ability to walk — much less return to work.
With traumatic brain injuries, it can take years. Doctors generally say that most healing happens relatively early, but that may just mean in the first few years. In some cases, people are still working to recover five or 10 years later. The financial impact of such a thing cannot be overstated. Even “fast” healing over six months to a year can cost you a lot.
Your options
Whether you’re losing wages for five days or five years, it is a direct cost of your accident. It can make it impossible to pay the bills, and it’s no fault of your own if someone else hit your car. Make sure you know what steps you can take to seek compensation for all of your costs, not just your medical bills.
