The last few months of the year tend to mark the beginning of the holiday season. Many people in Kentucky use this time as an opportunity to be with family, which often requires traveling over long distances. With many more people on the road and potentially hazardous driving conditions from winter weather, complex car accidents are more likely to occur.
In 2012, the Centers for Disease Control reported that approximately 200,000 car crash victims were hospitalized for their injuries. Over 2.5 million were seen and treated in emergency rooms that same year. It can be difficult to fully comprehend the physical and emotional pain and suffering that these individuals go through, but the financial impact is much more concrete.
Annually, car crash victims spend over one million days receiving in-patient treatment, with each person accruing about $57,000 in hospital bills over his or her lifetime. Even an ER visit without a subsequent admittance can cost over $3,000. This financial impact is especially hard when valuable work hours are lost because of injuries from a car accident. A 2012 estimate found that victims injured in car wrecks lose approximately $33 billion of lifetime work.
There is no denying the financial impact that complex car accidents have on victims. The burden of these costs can even further a person’s physical injuries by making them feel as if they have no choice but to return to work before they are ready. Personal injury lawsuits are often the most effective way for injury victims in Kentucky to achieve compensation related to their injuries, which can be for physical trauma, ongoing pain and suffering and lost wages.
Source: cdc.gov, “Motor Vehicle Crash Injuries“, Accessed on Oct. 23, 2017
