In the personal injury law sector, victims can pursue compensation for legal damages suffered from injuries at the hands of others. 

For example, a car accident victim could seek compensation for medical bills from their recovery from the at-fault driver’s insurance company. Injured victims often require physical therapy, medications, injections, and other procedures to heal from the physical damage, and these methods all cost a lot of money. 

One procedure that is common in personal injury cases is epidural steroid injections. Medical professionals use this to alleviate chronic pain, herniated disc injuries, ongoing neck pain, spinal stenosis, and more. These neck or spinal injections increase the costs to the injured victim, affecting the medical and non-medical damages in their personal injury settlement. 

Let’s discuss how epidural steroid injections tend to impact your lawsuit. 

What Are Epidural Steroid Injections?

An epidural steroid injection is commonly used to manage pain and reduce inflammation. If you are suffering from neck pain radiating to the upper back, herniated discs, severe pain in the back, or other spinal issues, an epidural steroid injection is used to address the ongoing pain. 

Unfortunately, it is also an expensive procedure. Incurring the costs of this procedure would put the injured victim under additional financial stress. This expense is why steroid injections for physical therapy and pain management are often cited as legal damages in personal injury settlements. 

Epidural steroid injections and personal injury settlements

Why Are Epidural Steroid Injections Important in Personal Injury Settlements?

Whether you are suffering from a herniated disc injury or another type of back injury, the pain may be too much to bear without a local anesthetic. Invasive treatments like epidural injections may be necessary for the healing process or to manage the pain. Receiving these treatments will play an essential role in your personal injury case. 

Medical Necessity and Severity of Injury

An epidural steroid injection is often considered necessary for medical treatment. If there is a bulging disc injury, spinal damage, neck pain, or other condition related to the spinal cord, this injection can significantly reduce pain and make recovery easier. Since these injections are used for severe injuries, they indicate a higher potential settlement value. 

Medical necessity must be proven with evidence if you want these damages included in your settlement. Additionally, ongoing medical care may require multiple injections to help with physical therapy and healing, potentially increasing compensation. 

Long-Term Treatment and Pain Management

Long-term pain management is another purpose for epidural steroid injections. The back or disc injury could be so severe that the victim is never truly free of the pain. As a result, they will require ongoing steroid injection treatment to relieve pain. The longer this treatment is needed, the higher the maximum compensation may be in a personal injury lawsuit. 

This ongoing treatment is why doctors’ reports and medical records are required to support your case, as they may indicate that you will incur future medical expenses due to the injury. 

How Medical Costs Affect the Settlement Amount

Epidural injections are complex medical procedures. They cost money to administer and for the steroids themselves. Someone has to bear the cost of these epidural injections if they are necessary to treat your herniated disc injury or other type of spinal damage. Here are a few ways that these medical costs will affect your settlement. 

Cost of Treatment

The primary reason steroid injections affect settlements is the cost of medical expenses. It costs money to administer this procedure and pay for the steroid itself. A typical injection can cost thousands of dollars, with the national average roughly $2,700. If the victim requires numerous injections to manage the pain during treatment, this will elevate the costs even further. 

With a weeks- or months-long recovery period, you could face tens of thousands of dollars in medical bills just from these injections. This cost doesn’t even account for other treatments, such as physical therapy, medication, and potential surgical interventions, required for long-lasting relief. 

Future Medical Expenses

The other aspect that affects the cost of legal damages in personal injury cases is future medical care. At the time of the lawsuit, the victim may still be receiving treatment. Their compensation must reflect their past medical expenses and future medical needs for pain relief. 

As a result, if your injury is expected to require additional injections for the next few months, the cost of those injections can be added to the total settlement package. 

The Role of Non-Economic Damages

Neck, spine, and back injuries in car accidents can result in significant economic damages in a personal injury case. You may miss out on wages during recovery or have to pay substantial medical costs for treatment. 

However, non-economic damages can also affect the settlement value. These damages are more complicated because they are harder to quantify. An experienced personal injury lawyer can help you assess these non-economic damages for fair compensation.

Non-economic damages for an injury case that requires steroid injections could include physical pain and suffering, emotional distress, or loss of enjoyment of life. 

Challenges in Getting Full Compensation for Epidural Steroid Injections

Compensation can have a massive impact on your future if you were harmed due to another person’s negligence. It can cover all your financial losses, helping you plan for the future even while recovering from the injury. Here are some of the challenges to obtaining total compensation for steroid injections. 

Insurance Company Tactics

The defendant’s insurance company is the biggest obstacle to obtaining more compensation in your lawsuit. Insurance carriers want to avoid large payouts at all costs. They will employ shady tactics to undermine your case and minimize your injuries or the cost of the epidural steroid injections. 

If you are unprepared for these tactics, you could feel pressured to accept a lower settlement than you deserve. This action is another reason to hire an attorney specializing in personal injury. An experienced legal professional will help you negotiate full compensation covering all your steroid injections and other damages. 

Fighting against the resources of the defendant, which could include a corporation, insurance company, and team of lawyers, is an overwhelming prospect. Hiring your own lawyer will level the playing field so you are protected from falling victim to the insurance company’s tactics. 

Proving Medical Necessity

Another barrier to receiving compensation for your injections is medical necessity. You must prove that the injections were necessary for the treatment of your injury. Therefore, collect as much evidence as possible to document your injury, the treatment plan, and pain management techniques. 

Hospital records and expert testimony can verify that your injections were medically necessary. The more evidence you collect with the help of your lawyer, the more likely you are to be compensated for the costs of the injections. 

How Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers Can Help Maximize Your Settlement

Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers is an experienced personal injury law firm with decades of expertise. Our team has worked with many clients who needed epidural steroid injections during their medical treatment. 

However, these healthcare costs are immense, especially for complicated injuries like spinal discs. Rather than pay for these costs, our clients sought legal guidance and won compensation for their financial damages. 

As you pursue your lawsuit, we will protect your rights under state and federal laws. Our team will assess all damages, including the cost of injections, to include in your settlement package. If your herniated disc injury will require future treatments, that will also factor into your compensation. 

Your lawyer’s expertise will play an essential role in winning your herniated disc case since they will investigate your claim, speak with a medical professional, assess the damages, negotiate for full compensation, and represent you in court if necessary. 

Secure Expert Legal Representation

Victims of herniated disc injuries or other spinal issues may face a long uphill battle for recovery. The longer they experience pain from these multiple injuries, the more steroid injections they may require. 

The cost of these procedures will increase, so pursuing compensation through a lawsuit may be the only way to recover those damages. Fortunately, more injections will also increase the potential settlement value in herniated disc injury cases. 

If you have concerns about your personal injury claim and whether injection costs will factor into your settlement, Rosenfeld Injury Lawyers can provide the solution you need. We offer a free case evaluation to determine the best legal path. 

If you decide to work with our legal team, we will represent your interests and work to secure the maximum compensation for you. We work on a contingency fee basis, which means we only get paid if we win your case. 

Call our law firm at 888-424-5757 for a free consultation or complete the online form