Tetraplegic forensics expert Lincoln Rhyme (Denzel Washington) and a patrol cop, Amelia Donaghy (Angelina Jolie), team up to solve a string of murders all connected to a serial killer by his signature: a single shard of bone is removed from each of the victims.
The medical costs for catastrophic injuries can be extremely high—a 2011 estimate from the Mational Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center notes that first-year costs of someone who has high tetraplegia, an injury that causes partial or full loss of use in all limbs, is USD $1,044,097, with subsequent years costing $181,328.