The cost of TBI can only be estimated. There is the obvious cost of medical care for the injured person, which can turn into chronic treatment and care for life. There is the cost to the person’s family. There is the secondary cost of the loss of income that person might have made. There is the cost to society of caring for the all of the patients with TBI.

First, to get an idea of how many people suffer TBI, it estimated that head injuries requiring hospitalization occur in the UK at the rate of about 275/100,000 population annually. (Royal College of Physicians and British Society of Rehabilitation Medicine. Rehabilitation following acquired brain injury: national clinical guidelines, 2003), “Within this overall figure there is considerable variation in different parts of the country…More recent improvements in emergency management and evacuation may have improved outcome overall, but have probably led to an increase in survival of very severely injured and disabled patients who would previously have died at the scene of the accident. Accurate up-to date figures are not yet available.”

Others have estimated the incidence rate is 100 per 100,000 population meaning approximately 59,000 new injuries per year in the UK. Estimates of the prevalence rate, which is the total number of existing patients living with TBI in the UK, range at somewhere between 450,000 to 1,160,000 estimated patients.

In 2008, an investigation was done of the cost of acute care for TBI patients age 18 years or above in England and Wales between 2000 and 2005. Of 6484 patients, approximately 42% were in motor vehicle collisions. 38% had been injured in falls. Almost 24% of the patients died in hospital. The cost of hospitalization averaged 15,462 pounds sterling. The more severely injured patients’ cost of treatment was the highest.

The ongoing cost to the UK taxpayer for care of patients with TBI has been estimated at £266m per annum.

A set of estimates in the US in 1985 put the direct annual expenditures for patients with TBI at $4.5 billion, indirect annual costs at $33.3 billion, and total costs at $37.8 billion.

In the United States in 1993, the care for people with new TBI cost an estimated 6.5 billion dollars. Care for people with an existing head injury cost $13.5 billion in 1993. For one person in a persistent nonresponsive state, the lifetime cost was over 3 million dollars.

Imagine that, 3 million dollars for the care of one person with a severe TBI who never wakes up, but does not die.

These are all estimated costs. What about the cost to a family if a patient dies from a TBI? There may be no long term care costs, but if that person was the wage earner? Each case is different.

These figures are not even counting late, delayed consequences of TBI like Alzheimer’s disease.

Brain Injury Compensation Claim Solicitors

We are qualified lawyers specialising in compensation claims for personal injury resulting from UK accidents caused by the negligence of a third party. We deal with physical injuries of the utmost severity including catastrophic damage to the spinal cord and brain and consequential psychological damage. If you would like to speak to a brain injury compensation claims solicitor without any obligation whatsoever just use the contact form or call the helpline. Our advice is free and if you decide to use our services we operate a totally risk free no win no fee scheme. Compensation is paid in full with no deductions and win or lose there is no charge.

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