When you suffer a vertebrae fracture, you’re likely to experience a wide range of life-changing symptoms as a result. Depending on the location and severity of the break, you may be living with mild to severe back pain, limited mobility, physical weakness, and even bowel or bladder dysfunction. If someone else’s negligence caused the injury, you may be looking into pursuing a personal injury claim, in which case it can be helpful to know how much vertebrae fracture cases settle for.
While it's natural to want concrete numbers, the reality is that vertebrae fracture settlements vary from case to case. These injuries can range from compression fractures that heal with conservative treatment to burst fractures that could result in permanent paralysis. In this guide, we’ll explain the different factors that can determine financial compensation in a vertebrae fracture claim.
Common Types of Vertebral Fractures
There are different types of vertebral fractures, each with different implications for your recovery and potential compensation. They include:
- Vertebral Compression Fractures: With this type of fracture, the vertebra collapses or is compressed, often due to osteoporosis or trauma. These injuries, which may heal with conservative treatment, can cause chronic pain and height loss.
- Burst Fractures: The vertebra breaks in multiple directions, frequently sending bone fragments into the spinal canal. These injuries carry a high risk of spinal cord damage and neurological complications like nerve damage, so medical bills for treatment can be high.
- Flexion-Distraction Fractures: Also known as seatbelt fractures, these injuries occur when the spine undergoes an intense combination of forward bending (flexion) and pulling apart (distraction) of the vertebrae. They typically occur in motor vehicle accidents and can damage both bone and soft tissue structures.
- Fracture-Dislocations: The vertebra both breaks and shifts out of its normal position. These represent some of the most severe spinal injuries and often result in severe spinal cord damage.
- Transverse Process Fractures: These spinal injuries are categorized by breaks in the wing-like projections of the vertebra. While often stable, they can cause muscle damage as well as pain.
- Spinous Process Fractures: These injuries involve breaks in the bony projection at the back of the vertebra. Like transverse process fractures, they are typically stable but may indicate more serious injuries elsewhere in the spine.
Factors That Affect Settlement Amounts
Vertebrae fractures can result in permanent disabilities, chronic pain, and long-term medical complications. Unlike a broken arm or leg that may heal completely, spinal injuries often have lasting effects, but each injury is different. This is why personal injury attorneys in Georgia evaluate every case individually, typically using something similar to the criteria outlined below.
Severity and Type of Fracture
The type and severity of the vertebrae fracture plays the most important role in determining settlement value. Different fracture patterns and locations within the spine create vastly different medical outcomes and compensation considerations.
- Fracture Location: Cervical spine fractures in the neck region can affect breathing and arm function, potentially causing quadriplegia. Thoracic fractures in the mid-back impact trunk stability and organ function, while lumbar fractures in the lower back affect leg function and mobility.
- Stability: Stable fractures that don't threaten the spinal cord typically result in better outcomes than unstable fractures that pose ongoing neurological risks.
- Spinal Cord Involvement: Complete spinal cord injuries that result in total loss of function below the injury site warrant higher compensation than incomplete injuries where some function remains.
- Multiple Level Injuries: Fractures involving multiple vertebrae create more complications and typically need more extensive treatment, especially if the spinal cord has been affected.
Medical Care Needs
The medical consequences extend far beyond the initial injury and encompass both immediate treatment requirements and long-term care needs. These medical factors form a major component of any settlement calculation.
- Emergency and Acute Care: Initial emergency treatment, surgical interventions, hospitalization stays, and intensive care requirements all factor into immediate costs.
- Surgical Requirements: Some fractures need spinal fusion surgeries, hardware implantation, or multiple procedures over time to stabilize the spine. Medical expenses for your injury will rise accordingly.
- Long-Term Prognosis: Some patients may recover substantial function with treatment, while others face permanent paralysis or chronic pain syndromes requiring lifelong management.
- Ongoing Medical Needs: Pain management, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and potential future surgeries contribute to long-term medical costs.
- Complications: Secondary issues like infections, blood clots, pneumonia, pressure sores, or mobility-related conditions add to the medical costs.
- Psychological Impact: Chronic pain conditions, depression, or other mental health complications stemming from the spine injury can all be included in your medical treatment plan.
Effect on Quality of Life
Fractured vertebrae can change how you live your daily life. Because they can affect everything from basic self-care to career prospects, these functional changes are a major consideration in settlement evaluations.
- Work Capacity: Some people may return to their previous employment with accommodations, while others may need career changes or may become unable to work entirely.
- Earning Potential: The impact on earning capacity both immediately and over a lifetime becomes an important calculation when determining maximum compensation.
- Daily Living Activities: Basic tasks like bathing, dressing, cooking, and household maintenance may become difficult or impossible with fractured vertebrae.
- Recreational Activities: Sports, hobbies, and leisure activities that provided you with a better quality of life may no longer be possible.
- Family Relationships: The responsibility placed on loved ones who may need to provide care takes a toll on the entire family unit. Relationship dynamics can also change if you’re married and severe pain harms your relationship with your spouse.
- Independence and Mobility: Loss of independence and the need for assistive devices or home modifications can affect quality of life.
Negligence and Liability
How the vertebrae fracture occurred and who bears responsibility for the accident directly influences settlement potential. Clear liability typically leads to better settlement outcomes than disputed fault scenarios.
- Clear Negligence Cases: Incidents involving obvious negligence, like distracted driving, inadequate safety measures, or clear medical malpractice, typically result in stronger settlement positions.
- Disputed Liability: Cases where fault is questioned or shared between parties may result in reduced settlement amounts or longer legal proceedings.
- Comparative Fault: Georgia observes comparative negligence rules, so if the injured party bears some responsibility for the accident, their compensation may be reduced proportionally.
- Evidence: The quality and availability of evidence supporting the negligence claim affects settlement leverage. This includes witness statements, medical records, police reports, accident reports, photo and video evidence, and more.
- Multiple Defendants: Cases with multiple liable parties may increase compensation potential through multiple insurance policies, but can also complicate the legal situation.
Insurance Limits
The insurance coverage and financial resources available to pay a personal injury settlement create practical limitations, regardless of your spine injury's severity or clear liability.
- Policy Limits: A defendant with minimal insurance coverage may not be able to pay a settlement that reflects the full value of a catastrophic vertebrae fracture.
- Multiple Policies: Auto insurance, homeowner's insurance, commercial policies, or professional liability coverage may all apply depending on how the accident occurred.
- Underinsured Coverage: In the case of a car accident, the victim's own underinsured motorist coverage may provide additional resources when the at-fault party lacks adequate insurance.
- Defendant's Assets: If insurance coverage is limited or nonexistent, the financial resources of the at-fault party may be relevant, though collecting judgments against those with limited assets can be challenging.
- Business or Institutional Defendants: Cases involving companies, hospitals, or government entities may have access to larger insurance policies or self-insurance programs.
Most personal injury lawsuits settle out of court rather than proceeding to trial, but the timing of settlement discussions can impact outcomes. Settling too early, before the full extent of injuries is known, may result in inadequate compensation. However, waiting too long may also have drawbacks, including the costs and uncertainties of trial. If you work with a Georgia personal injury lawyer, they will advise you on the best course of action for your claim.
What Compensation Can You Get in a Vertebrae Fracture Settlement?
If you’re pursuing a settlement after a vertebrae fracture, you may be eligible for a wide range of damages. All of them are intended to account for the financial losses you’ve had and the ways your life has changed because of your spine injury.
- Medical Bills: Medical expenses usually make up the largest share of a settlement. These costs include ambulance transport, emergency room care, hospital stays, and imaging such as X-rays or MRIs. If your injury required you to get surgery, like a spinal fusion or vertebroplasty, those costs may be included, too. Physical therapy, follow-up visits, and prescriptions for pain management also count. Some people need assistive devices such as braces, walkers, or home medical equipment.
- Loss of Income: Lost wages are another important part of your compensation package. If your fractured vertebrae forced you to miss work, you can potentially be repaid for the income you would’ve earned. If the fracture has long-term effects that make it harder to return to your old job, you may also be compensated for future losses. That might include compensation for a drop in your earnings or the need to switch to a less physically demanding role that pays less.
- Pain and Suffering: Pain and suffering payments account for what you’ve been through physically and emotionally. Vertebrae fractures can be extremely painful, and recovery isn’t always quick. Ongoing discomfort, sleep loss, and the mental strain of dealing with the injury may all be considered. If you’ve had to stop activities you once enjoyed or limit how you interact with others, that too can be part of the claim.
- Loss of Consortium: This applies when your injury harms your relationship with your spouse. If your partner has lost the emotional support, companionship, or intimacy that existed before the injury, the settlement may reflect that change.
- Permanent Damage: If the fracture caused lasting harm, such as reduced mobility or visible scarring, your compensation may increase. Permanent effects often lead to larger settlements, especially if the injury interferes with your ability to move around, care for yourself, or continue working in your usual field.
- Out-of-Pocket Expenses: You may also be repaid for out-of-pocket expenses tied to the injury. These include travel to medical appointments, over-the-counter supplies, and household help during your recovery. Even small daily expenses can add up, especially if your injury makes it hard to manage tasks on your own.
Given the variable nature of vertebrae fracture cases and the life-changing nature of these injuries, working with an experienced personal injury attorney is important. These cases call for knowledge of medical terminology, familiarity with spinal anatomy, awareness of treatment options, and skill in calculating long-term damages. A personal injury lawyer can help ensure that all potential sources of compensation are identified, that medical treatment is documented, and that the full scope of damages is presented during negotiations or trial.
Suffered a Vertebrae Fracture? Get the Experienced Representation You Need
If you or a loved one has suffered a vertebrae fracture in a preventable accident, legal representation can help secure the settlement you need. At The Champion Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.C., we know the devastating impact these injuries can have on your life, your family, and your future. We know that no amount of money can undo the harm you've suffered, but compensation can provide the financial security you need to heal and rebuild your life.
Don't let insurance companies minimize the value of your personal injury lawsuit or pressure you into accepting an inadequate settlement. The Champion Firm operates on a contingency fee basis, meaning you pay nothing unless we win your case. To schedule a free consultation, call our personal injury law firm at 404-738-7509 or contact us online today.