Recent SCI and Still Hospitalized

Nona,
 I am very sorry to hear of your brother's illness.  Someone in the family will have to go over the insurance guidelines carefully.  In addition, there should bee a social worker in the hospital who can help guide you.  Some are very helpful, some are pitiful.  

With such a recent injury it is possible your brother will regain some feeling and/or function.  Infection will cause swelling that chokes off function of the spinal cord, but as swelling goes own, often things change.  He will absolutely need access to inpatient rehab.  Immediately appeal the denial (denials are almost routine in the USA insurance industry), but with an eye to having him in rehab after hospitalization after there has been time for swelling to leave.  If he remains unable to move his lower body he will need rehab to learn to live in a chair.  Lots of us have full lives using chairs.  If he begins to see slight  movement rehab can vastly improve the rate at which he advances.  

Many rehab facilities seek simply to teach a person how to manage inside their home, as though our goals are to be shut-ins!  You may have to fight that battle.  When my dad was in rehab they wanted to discharge him saying he had stopped making progress and Medicare would not pay if he did. not make progress.  I argued that he had had C-diff for month due to the facility's lax clean protocols, and no one can make progress when they are enduring week after week of sever diarrhea.  Duh.  He stayed.  His case was a bit similar to your brother's in that he had contracted infection in yhe spinal column during surgery.  He did pretty well and got back to walking with walker short distances.

Let us know how things go for him.