Examining the true cost of a brain injury
Brain injuries are often serious and life-changing, and while they may take an emotional toll on the entire family, they also tend to take a serious financial one. The medical expenses you may face in the immediate aftermath of a loved one suffering a brain injury may prove staggering. You may also find that you and your family also have to deal with additional related expenses well into the future.
Just how much might a loved one’s brain injury wind up costing you? There is considerable variation from one person to the next based on the extent of the injury, its impact, how long the patient lives and so on. However, Northwestern University reports that a general consensus exists with regard to how much you might expect to pay to care for your loved one with a brain injury over the duration of his or her lifetime.
Overall expenses
Typically, it costs somewhere in the range of $85,000 to $3 million to provide a lifetime of care for someone with a brain injury. You may face hefty bills right off the bat if your loved one sustained his or her injury in, say, a serious car crash or something similar. While these expenses often prove considerable, they are likely to be even more so once you factor in the costs of rehabilitation. Then, if you plan to care for your loved one at home, you may have to factor in additional expenses relating to modifying your home, entryway and so on.
Unemployment rates
Unemployment rates are high among individuals with brain injuries. In many cases, the responsibility of paying for the care of someone with a brain injury falls on the family members. About 60% of brain injury victims are unemployed two years following their initial diagnoses, and in many cases, brain injury sufferers are hesitant to return to work at all because they have doubts about their ability to play a productive role in society.
