In most Florida car accident cases, the injured person needs a permanent injury to get money for pain and suffering. All things equal, a jury is more likely to consider your injury permanent if you’ve had surgery.  The more major the surgery, the more likely that a jury will consider it to be permanent.  And if a jury would consider it permanent, then there is a good chance that the responsible insurance company would also.  This triggers a better settlement offer. Take, for example, someone who is in a car accident and has a fractured vertebrae.  If he or she has surgery to the fix the vertebrae, doctors are more likely to say that the injury is permanent. When it comes to spinal fusion surgery, the more levels that are fused, the higher the likelihood that a jury believes that the injury is permanent. Let’s assume that the injured person has a three or four level spinal fusion surgery as a result of a burst fracture (or other fracture).   A burst fracture can happen from a bad car accident or a fall from a height. Having a four (or more) level fusion is a lot of restriction.  It negatively affects your ability to function. In this case, a jury is more likely to believe that is a permanent injury as compared to a one level fusion. For settlement purposes, in most personal injury claims the full value of pain and suffering of a two level back or neck fusion surgery is likely between $250,000 to $400,000. I'm referring to Florida personal injury claims. Remember: The full value is before any discounts are taken for liability, fault of the injured person, or difficulty linking the fusion surgery to the accident. A four level fusion surgery likely has a higher pain and suffering value.  A four level fusion surgery is a major surgery.