Can I recover the costs of my spinal cord injury medical bills?

The short answer is yes. In most circumstances, you may recover compensation for your medical bills, particularly if you are injured as a result of negligence.

If you, or someone you know, has received a spinal cord injury, then you already know just how debilitating this condition can be. Victims suffering from such injuries usually experience partial or complete paralysis throughout their bodies. This paralysis often requires extensive medical treatments and related physical therapies designed to prevent further injury and increase motor functions.

Due to the long term nature of spinal cord injuries, it is not uncommon for medical bills exceed hundreds of thousands of dollars in costs. Florida law provides remedies for victims of spinal cord injuries to sue negligent parties who contributed to their injuries. However, a defendant can also choose to defend against those payments on the grounds that the medical treatment was not reasonable or medically necessary.

This is why it is important to have experienced legal representation when presenting your claim. While things like ambulance service following your accident, x-rays, MRIs, CT scans and other medical treatments may all appeared to be obviously relevant to diagnosing a spinal injury, an insurance company representing the defendant may wish to challenge those practices.

For example, the defendant’s insurance company may bring evidence that the doctor who performed your CT scan was not properly licensed in Florida, and thus the services rendered should not be compensable. Another example might be a challenge to the costs related to your rehabilitative therapies. The defendant’s attorneys might argue that cheaper alternative remedies might have provided you with similar results.

Of course, the decision to compensate you for your spinal cord injuries will be ultimately left up to the court. However, your action in choosing someone to represent you in your claim is important in helping to determine that outcome.