What Does a Life Care Planning Expert Do?

There are many kind of accidents, especially in the more catastrophic injury accidents, where the victim’s injuries will take a lifetime of care; the victim’s way of life, ability to function, the care that they need, and their ability to work, will never be the same, and will entail a lifetime of expenses and hardship.

And that creates a special problem in lawsuits, because it requires that a jury see into the future, predicting what somebody will need, sometimes years ahead.

Looking Into the Future

It also requires very complex calculations of future expenses. Someone who has sustained a life altering injury may need in-home medical care, physical therapy, medical devices, occupational therapy, speech therapy, cognitive therapy, alterations to homes and cars, and perhaps special institutionalization at older ages. Calculating what all of that costs, both now and in the future, and accounting for inflation, is a daunting task.

Life Care Plans

Enter the life care plan, often put together and calculated by a life care expert.

The life care expert is a special combination of medical professional and economist, as well as an expert in the kinds of costs that the care that someone catastrophically injured, will need going forward.

But the life care expert doesn’t just run some numbers in a calculator; the life care expert also has to account for the victim’s own, particular circumstances.

For example, we all know that some things cost more in certain geographic areas than others. So, one person who may need in-home nursing for a lifetime, may be able to get it cheaper than someone else, who lives in a different part of the country. One person with a lot of relatives may have more familial support, and perhaps be in need of less outside medical care, than someone who has only a few family members will need.

The expert also must account for inflation; a nursing home may cost whatever it costs today—but what will it cost years into the future? That gets to be a more difficult opinion the younger the victim is, and thus, the father away in time the nursing home care may be. But a life care expert can estimate those costs, account for inflation, and give the jury a correct picture.

Future Medical Care

The lifecare expert has to have some medical knowledge as well.

For example, a life care expert could just give damage figures on the needs of someone who suffers paralysis. The life care expert needs to know what the other medical needs are of the victim, even if those needs aren’t considered the “primary” or immediate injury.

So for example, what about opportunistic infections, which are more common in paralysis patients? What about arthritis, or other conditions that aren’t related to, but are caused by, the paralysis? What will the cost of prescription medicines be?

Your injuries, now and into the future, are important. Get the compensation you need. Contact the Knoxville personal injury attorneys at Fox Farley Willis & Burnette, PLLC, today to see how we can help you with your injury case.

Sources:

jurispro.com/category/life-care-planning-s-95/FL

mdclcp.com/