The National
Spinal Cord
Injury Association

SCI Life
Fall/Winter 1998

Facts and Figures on Violence and Spinal Cord Injuries

In many of the nation's urban cities, at least half of all spinal cord injuries are caused by gunshots. An emergency room physician in the nation's capital totes up the cost of a weekend of violence in the nation's capital for a typical gunshot patient:

• 16 days in the intensive care unit at $1,487 per day;
• Drugs costing $13,580;
• X-rays at $2,738;
• Bandages, tubes, and miscellaneous supplies totaling $16,280; and
• Nursing care, physical therapy and other services added thousands more to the bill.

By the time the patient was discharged from the hospital, his bills tallied $100,838, not including doctor's fees.

According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center:

• First-year medical costs for a high quadriplegic total $417,067, plus $74,707 for each year thereafter;
• First-year costs for a paraplegic run $152,396 plus $15,507 for each year thereafter;
• The proportion of spinal injuries from acts of violence has increased steadily since 1973 and now represent nearly half all injuries;
• 50 percent of all spinal cord victims are under age 30; and
• A 25-year-old quadriplegic would have lifetime medical costs of $1.3 million, for a paraplegic, $427,700.

Additional information is available from the SCI Information Network: http://www.sci.rehabm.uab.edu.  
 

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