A car accident settlement with neck and back injuries ranges from about $10,000 to $500,000. Here, we look at the costs involved with neck and back surgery after a car accident in Arizona.
Stone Rose Law represents Arizona residents who need help recovering the compensation they need to pay for injuries they suffer in car accidents. If you have been injured because of a motor vehicle accident in Arizona, call us at (480) 498-8998 to speak with one of our experienced car accident attorneys and schedule a free consultation.
Here are some of the most commonly experienced spinal column injuries that car accidents can cause. Each of these injuries can range from mild to severe—injury severity can significantly affect the value of your claim. Some injuries can have long-term consequences if they are not appropriately treated.
Violent, sudden jerking movements of the head, neck, and spine can cause soft tissue injuries. These usually do not require surgery to treat.
A strain involves damage to the facet joint, tendons, or muscles.
On the other hand, a sprain refers to torn ligaments, which are the soft tissues that connect bones to other bones. Both conditions can result in pain when moving the head or upper neck, reduced mobility, and muscle spasms.
A whiplash injury is one of the most common injuries in car accidents, particularly in rear-end collisions. It is caused by your head snapping back and forth during an auto accident.
Whiplash is at the lowest end of the settlement value scale for neck and back injuries. Settlements for whiplash in car accident cases can range from $6,000 to $25,000 on average, but in some cases can reach up to $50,000 to $100,000.
Fracturing a vertebrae bone in the spine can be a severe back injury. Treatment required for this injury can range from a brace and physical therapy to spinal surgery. Therapy and rehabilitation for fractured vertebrae can last for months, increasing your medical costs.
Fractured vertebrae injuries have an average settlement value of $50,000 to $300,000.
The discs in your cervical spine are jelly-filled structures that absorb shock to protect your vertebrae. These discs can slip, rupture, herniate, or bulge during a collision. When a disc slips, it may compress the spinal cord nerves. Herniated disc injuries can lead to pain in the neck or arms and numbness, both from the injury itself and from the pinching or squeezing of nerves. Such injuries are common in side-impact crashes as well as frontal or rear-end accidents.
Injuries involving herniated discs are more severe and often require extensive treatment, including physical therapy, injections, or surgery. Settlements for these injuries can range from $50,000 to $100,000 or more, depending on the case’s specifics.
The settlement value for a typical herniated disc injury in an auto accident case ranges from $25,000 to $100,000, assuming you can prove the herniated disc was caused by the accident, which is often difficult without prior imaging studies. For some of the more serious herniated disc injuries, however, the average settlement amount can be $250,000 to $375,000.
Many back and neck injuries can result in a pinched nerve. Damaged tissues, bones, discs, or tendons shift out of place and rub against or compress surrounding nerves, causing severe pain and/or tingling and numbness. Pinched nerves are often associated with a muscle strain, sprain, or disc damage.
This is a lower back injury caused by irritation or compression of the sciatic nerve.
Cervical spondylolisthesis occurs when one or more of the vertebrae in the neck slip out of alignment or dislocate, often due to the force of an accident. This misalignment can compress nerves or the spinal cord, resulting in pain that may radiate to the back of your head or shoulders.
The most severe spinal cord injuries can cause paralysis. Even moderate spinal cord injuries can cause sensory issues, muscle strength, mobility, and movement loss.
Spinal cord injuries are at the higher end of the settlement value range for neck and back injuries because of their potential severity. The most severe of these injuries can cause partial or total paralysis. The average settlement value for spinal cord injuries in auto accident cases is $60,000 to $500,000, but injuries that result in paralysis can reach up to a million dollars or more.
Some of the signs and symptoms of a neck or back injury are:
Not all of these symptoms will indicate a need for surgery. Your treating doctor will be the best judge of that question, possibly in collaboration with other medical specialists.
When surgery is needed as part of your medical treatment plan in the aftermath of a car or truck accident, the kind of surgery you need and how much it will cost in medical bills depends on the underlying injury type and its severity.
Other factors to consider when considering surgery include your age, what kind of insurance coverage you have, how much the at-fault driver’s insurance might pay, and what assets the at-fault driver has.
In an endoscopic procedure, a surgeon uses a small tube with a video camera attached to the end. This procedure usually costs between $6,000 and $8,000.
A laminotomy removes a portion of the lamina, the back part of a spinal vertebra. It carves a hole just big enough to relieve the pressure in a specific spot. Because laminotomy is a bone-sparing procedure, it is favored over more radical surgery options.
The average cost of this procedure is $50,000 to $100,000 or more.
Spinal fusion surgery connects two or more vertebrae in any part of your spine, intending to reduce pain by connecting the bones to prevent movement between them. The surgeon places bone or a bone-like material in the space between two vertebrae. Metal plates, screws, or rods might hold the bones together.
The cost of this surgery can be up to $150,000.
Disc replacement surgery is an alternative treatment to spinal fusion surgery. It involves removing disc tissue and implanting an artificial disc implant. This surgery has two variations: cervical and lumbar.
The average cost of cervical disc replacement surgery is between $50,000 and $100,000 or more. Lumbar disc replacement is generally more expensive than cervical disc replacement surgery.
A spinal compression fracture occurs when a vertebra in the spine collapses, as can happen in the trauma from an auto accident. Spinal fractures can cause back pain and potentially lead to deformity and short-term or permanent disability.
Although surgery is not always needed to treat a spinal compression fracture, when it is advisable, there are two kinds: vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty. Spinal compression surgery costs up to $15,000 on average.
Surgical procedures do not occur in a vacuum, and surgery can have its own consequences on your ability to work and participate in day-to-day activities. Additional cost considerations connected with surgery can include:
Most personal injury claims in Arizona do not go to trial; they settle first. The potentially high cost of car accident-related back and neck injuries and related surgeries frequently means that insurance companies will be involved in negotiating a settlement.
Because of how costly surgery solutions are, insurance companies often stiffly fight to avoid them. Receiving a fair settlement from an insurance company for a neck or back surgery can be hard to accomplish without an experienced personal injury lawyer on your side; it’s a safe bet that the insurance company will have an attorney and medical experts of its own to keep the settlement payout as low as possible.
Knowing how to deal with these insurers is key to reaching the maximum fair settlement value for a car accident that requires surgical treatment. Here are some considerations for you and your Arizona personal injury attorney during settlement negotiations:
Remember, you are not obligated to accept an insurance company’s first settlement offer, which will almost always be a low-ball offer. The auto accident lawyers at Stone Rose Law can ensure you receive all the compensation you need and deserve for the car accident settlement.
Although nothing in Arizona law prevents you from being your own lawyer when negotiating fair compensation for back or neck injuries, many good reasons exist to have an experienced personal injury attorney on your side, like one of our personal injury plaintiff’s attorneys at Stone Rose Law.
At Stone Rose Law, we comprehensively prepare your case for the best possible settlement. If your claim does not settle out of court, that meticulous preparation becomes the foundation for representing you in arbitration or at trial.
From taking over the legal process on your behalf to connecting you to top doctors in your region, your Stone Rose Law personal injury lawyer will look out for your physical, emotional, and financial well-being. You can rest and concentrate on healing while we deal with all the complex and arcane legal tasks on your behalf.
Call us at (480) 498-8998 to arrange a free consultation with one of our car accident personal injury attorneys or contact us online.
