The total initial medical charges for the 58 killed and 489 injured in the shooting ranges from roughly $2.6 million to about $48 million, though these costs will continue to rise as the death toll increases, patients remain in critical condition and survivors seek follow up care such as physical therapy and trauma counseling.
A study by Baltimore-based Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that emergency department and hospital charges for nonfatal gunshot injuries cost 2.4 times more than fatal injuries.
While the initial hospital costs remain high for the survivors, due to the severity of the event, Dr. Miller estimates that the cost for mental health care will be above average.
“Indeed, many, many people who were not physically injured will be seeing a therapist, perhaps haunted by PTSD,” Dr. Miller told NewsWeek.
The financial burden of the Las Vegas mass shooting is just a sliver of the overall cost of gun violence nationwide, which totals about $2.8 billion annually in initial emergency department and inpatient charges alone, the John Hopkins study found.
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