The Life Care Expert Is A Necessity In Catastrophic Damage Cases

When calculating the damages that an accident victim sustains, it’s not just prior medical bills or expenses or lost wages that have to be considered—it’s also the expenses and bills that may be incurred as a result of the victim’s injuries in the future.

We often think of future medical procedures, future medical bills, or future lost wages, as the major elements of future damages, and they do make up a large part of a victim’s future damages claim. But in many cases, especially those that involve catastrophic injuries, a victim’s entire life going forward may be altered.

More Than Just Bills

In that case, there are more than just future medical bills or the cost of future medical procedures that need to be considered. In these cases, a victim’s entire lifestyle change needs to be considered.

For example, imagine someone is so catastrophically injured, that in every car that he or she owns in the future, modifications to the vehicle will need to be made for the car to be handicapped accessible. Every home the victim lives in, will have to be modified.

Perhaps the victim, due to brain injuries, will never be able to be left alone—in home care will be forever required. The victim, if young enough, may need special private schooling, and the expense that comes with it. The victim may need medical devices in the future, prosthetics, wheelchairs, or any other items, and the cost of those must be considered.

The Life Care Expert

When someone’s life is forever altered, in very significant ways because of an injury, often, there is a need for a life care expert to testify as to the damages (the expenses) the victim will have going forward.

The life care expert is an expert in many fields. On one hand, the expert is an accountant, who must account for changes due to inflation or changing technologies. The life care expert must account for geography—in some areas, necessary services for the injured are cheaper, or more or less accessible than in other areas.

The life care expert must also account for the victim’s personal situation. A victim with a lot of close family living nearby may need less than someone who is on his or her own, and who will have to pay for the same services that someone else’s family would normally provide.

The life care plan expert also must use medicine; some disabilities or diseases will have complications, or will affect other areas of the body, and the life care expert may have to account for those changes as well.

Helping the Jury

Life care experts often must explain to the jury why a seemingly very large damage request is actually very necessary and reasonable. The expert will put the financial need of the victim in plain terms, that a jury can understand and relate to.

What experts will you need in your injury case? We can help you get your case ready for trial. Contact us today for help.  Call the Boston personal injury lawyers at The Law Office of Joseph Linnehan, Jr. today at 617-275-4200.

Sources:

primeexpertsgroup.com/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAlKmeBhCkARIsAHy7WVtxA4PFxyZdQxw0Kzf7tO1XJ2RbcliSKYooMiX3BJWCCtPh1LZ_n6UaAvGhEALw_wcB

oasinc.org/florida-life-care-planners