JULY 14, 2020
What causes reduced life expectancy following a paralyzing injury?
A paralysis attorney can help you get the compensation you need following a paralyzing injury to ensure that you can live to the fullest.
What causes reduced life expectancy following a paralyzing injury? Can individuals recover compensation for curtailment of life expectancy in Kansas? Individuals who are paralyzed suffer a number of physiological changes that radiate throughout the organs and muscle groups. This cascade of changes can significantly shorten an individual's life expectancy. Despite advances in medical science and technology, the life expectancy following a paralyzing accident has not improved since the 1980s. When individuals suffer a paralyzing event, a paralysis attorney can recover compensation for loss of expected earning capacity, medical expenses, and loss of quality of life.
Life Expectancy Following a Paralyzing Injury
Life expectancy following a paralyzing event is weighted heavily by the individual's age at the time of the injury. With no spinal cord injury, a 20-year old can expect a further 59.6 years of life. However, one year after suffering an injury that causes paraplegia, life expectancy is reduced to 46.2 years. It drops to 41.2 years with a low tetraplegic injury, and 35.2 years with a high tetraplegic injury. If the individual requires any form of ventilation, the life expectancy drops to just 19 years.
For an individual age 40 at the time of the injury who survives the first year post-injury, they can expect 30.2 years of life expectancy with a paraplegic injury, 25.7 with a low tetraplegic injury, and just 22.1 with a high tetraplegic injury. If the individual was ventilator dependent at any level, the life expectancy drops to 13.3 years.
At age 60, life expectancy declines significantly. For paraplegic injuries, the expected lifespan is just 16.5 years, a lot tetraplegic injury results in a life expectancy of 14 years, high tetraplegic injuries are 12.5 years, and any ventilator dependency drops that to just 7.9 years.
The Cascade of Changes Following a Paralyzing Event
Spinal cord injuries don't just cause damage to the nervous system. When the spinal cord is injured, it disrupts signals to muscle groups and organs. This causes changes to the ways the respiratory, digestive, cardiovascular, lymphatic, urinary, and skeletal systems process nutrients and function.
These changes make individuals more susceptible to infections, cardiovascular disease, cancer, strokes, and respiratory illnesses. These considerably reduce the individual's quality of life and increase the amount of care required to keep them healthy. Spinal cord injuries also cause significant changes in mood and personality. Without question, depression is common among spinal cord injury survivors. Studies from England showed that from 1991 to 2010, 91% of suicide attempts occurred within the first decade following the injury. Suicides caused 4.2% of all SCI related deaths during this period. This was a rate of 62.5 per 100,000 people in the country, which was 12 times higher than it was for the general population.
Compensation for Curtailment of Life Expectancy
Sometimes referred to as diminution of life expectancy, it is not possible to pursue compensation for curtailment of life expectancy. Neither of these is a separate or distinct form of damages. However, it is possible to pursue compensation for loss of expected earning capacity, damages for loss of quality of life, anticipated medical care, and potentially punitive damages depending on the facts of the case.
Our Wichita based personal injury lawyers are accident attorneys who have offices across Wichita and in Garden City. Our team will instantly go to work to prove accident injury victims are not at fault. You can use our contact page or get a free call at our Wichita offices at 316-684-4400 and our Garden City office at 620-843-2855.
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