When someone suffers a catastrophic injury, it doesn’t just affect them. The whole family feels it. Spouses become full-time caregivers overnight. Parents quit their jobs. Children watch their loved ones struggle through basic daily tasks that used to be simple. Most families don’t realize they might be entitled to compensation for all of this. At Andersen & Linthorst, we’ve watched families transform their entire lives around caring for an injured loved one. It’s exhausting. It’s expensive. And honestly, it’s something the law recognizes as a real loss that deserves compensation.
Understanding Loss Of Consortium Claims
Loss of consortium is a legal term that sounds more complicated than it actually is. It just means the loss of your relationship with someone after they’re seriously injured. In Oregon, spouses can file what’s called a derivative claim when their partner sustains catastrophic injuries. You’re not claiming for the physical care you’ve provided. You’re claiming for what the injury took from your relationship. These claims cover several types of damages:
- Loss of companionship and emotional support
- Loss of intimacy and affection
- Loss of household services and assistance
- Emotional distress from witnessing a loved one’s suffering
The injury changes everything about how you relate to your spouse. Courts get this. They understand that caring for someone with a traumatic brain injury or watching your partner adapt to paralysis fundamentally alters your marriage in ways that go beyond medical bills.
Compensation For Family Caregiving Services
Here’s something separate from loss of consortium. If you’ve actually left your job or cut back your hours to care for an injured family member, those services have real economic value. Professional nursing care isn’t cheap. When you’re doing the same work a hired caregiver would do, you deserve compensation for it. An Oregon catastrophic injury lawyer can calculate what your services are worth on the open market. We’re talking about bathing, feeding, medication management, driving to appointments, and helping with mobility. All of it counts. In Oregon, professional caregiving costs between $25 and $50 per hour. Sometimes more. When you’re providing these services yourself, the at-fault party should pay you for that time.
Who Can Claim Caregiver Compensation
Oregon law mainly recognizes spouses for loss of consortium claims, but other family relationships count too. Parents caring for adult children with catastrophic injuries can recover damages. Adult children taking care of injured parents can seek compensation through the overall claim. What matters is proving that you provided services the injured person would’ve needed to pay someone else to do. Medical records help with this. So do care plans and testimony from doctors or therapists who understand what’s required.
Calculating Fair Compensation
Figuring out the right number takes work. We bring in medical professionals and life care planners to project what caregiving will look like long-term. Someone who’s paralyzed from a workplace accident might need help for the rest of their life. Decades of care. The compensation needs to reflect both what you’ve already done and what’s still ahead.
Several factors affect how much caregiver compensation you should receive. How severe are the injuries? How long will care be needed? What types of tasks are we talking about? Did you lose income or derail your career to provide this care? Let’s say you were making $60,000 a year before you quit to become a full-time caregiver. You’re not just losing the value of caregiving services. You’re losing significant earning potential that stretches into the future.
Proving Family Impact In Injury Cases
Insurance companies don’t want to pay for this stuff. They’ll try to narrow everything down to just the injured person’s medical bills and lost wages. We push back hard because we know better. Catastrophic injuries ripple through entire households.
Evidence wins these cases. Strong, detailed evidence. We collect testimony from family members about how life changed after the injury. Medical providers explain the level of care that’s actually required. Employment records show the income you’ve lost. Photos and videos document both the injured person’s limitations and how your family has had to adapt. An Oregon catastrophic injury lawyer knows how to present these family damages persuasively. You can’t just tell the insurance company your life got harder. You’ve got to show them with compelling proof.
Oregon’s statute of limitations gives you two years from the injury date to file personal injury claims. Loss of consortium claims follow that same timeline. It sounds like a long time, but it goes fast when you’re overwhelmed with caregiving responsibilities. If someone else’s negligence turned your family upside down, you deserve full compensation. Not just for medical bills, but for everything you’ve lost and everything you’ll keep sacrificing in the years ahead. Contact our team to discuss what your family’s been through and how we can help you pursue what you’re owed.
