The Role of Life Care Planning in Complex Injury Cases
by Len Zandrow, NSCIA General Counsel
When legal claims involve serious or disabling injuries, life care planners often play a key role in assessing the injury's impact and the continuing damages that the affected person will experience in the future. This article briefly summarizes who these experts are, the kinds of information they typically rely upon, and the considerations that are most important in preparing an accurate life care plan.
Who Life Care Planners Are.In the past few decades, life care planning has emerged as its own specialty. Experts in this field analyze an injured person's likely future needs and determine the costs associated with meeting those needs.
Life care planners are not necessarily trained in a distinct discipline nor do they come from a single background. They may, for example, have experience in nursing, the managed care industry, the supply of medical services or equipment, or a combination of these areas.
Life care planners should be distinguished from vocational rehabilitation experts, whose focus and analysis is directed more to issues of employability and the career opportunities and obstacles presented in particular circumstances. In addition, while life planners are often familiar with basic economic principles, they ordinarily are not economists nor do they have special expertise on subjects like the investment value of money or the proper methodology for reducing a future sum of money to its present value.
What Life Care Planners Do.Life care planners attempt to measure and quantify, to the extent reasonably possible, the impact that a serious injury has had and will continue to have on a person's life. In order to do so, life care planners must carefully review the injured person's medical history and records, assess the extent of the underlying injuries, and weigh his or her prognosis for the future. Typically, the life planner also interviews the injured person and family members in order to gauge his or her progress to date and ongoing, foreseeable needs.
Life care plans have a variety of uses. Most often, they help injured persons learn, plan and budget for the additional, future costs associated with their injuries. Where the injury was caused by another's fault, life care plans help any attorneys involved with prospective litigation determine the amount of damages necessary to fairly and reasonably compensate the injured party for his or her injuries. Such plans can also help the defendant's insurance company decide what amount of money to set aside as a reserve for the underlying claim.
Key Factors in Life Care Plans.A good life care plan will consider and review many factors. Typically, medical issues and related needs will predominate in the plan. The life care planner will calculate the likely needs for, and costs of, over-the-counter and prescription medications, medical supplies and durable medical equipment that may be reasonably necessary. If, for example, the injured person requires a wheelchair, the planner will take into account the useful life expectancy of such devices (generally 3 to 7 years depending upon the user's level of activity and the climate where he or she lives).
Based on the injured person's medical records, past history and prognosis, the planner may also project whether future medical procedures may be required and the expenses associated with such foreseeable treatment, possible rehabilitation and any likely physical or occupational therapy thereafter. If the injured person requires emotional and psychological support, the costs of counseling will also be estimated by the life care planner.
Depending on the extent and duration of the injury, the person involved may also need attendant care and household assistance. The costs of these services are more readily estimated when they are provided by home health agencies or third parties outside the household, rather than family members and friends. Damages for the stress or strain placed on the caregivers' familial relationship may be asserted in separate, so-called loss of consortium claims, which are independent of the injured party's direct damages and are typically considered outside the context of the life care plan.
Additional factors in a life care plan may include the expenses associated with: home modifications, adaptive equipment for recreational pursuits, periodic case evaluations, and educational information/materials for investigating and pursuing lifestyle options, as altered by the injury.
None of these factors are, of course, discussed in any depth here. Life care planners or other professionals, who work closely with them, should be consulted for a more particularized analysis based on an individual's unique circumstances.
When legal claims involve serious or disabling injuries, life care planners often play a key role in assessing the injury's impact and the continuing damages that the affected person will experience in the future. This article briefly summarizes who these experts are, the kinds of information they typically rely upon, and the considerations that are most important in preparing an accurate life care plan.
Who Life Care Planners Are.In the past few decades, life care planning has emerged as its own specialty. Experts in this field analyze an injured person's likely future needs and determine the costs associated with meeting those needs.
Life care planners are not necessarily trained in a distinct discipline nor do they come from a single background. They may, for example, have experience in nursing, the managed care industry, the supply of medical services or equipment, or a combination of these areas.
Life care planners should be distinguished from vocational rehabilitation experts, whose focus and analysis is directed more to issues of employability and the career opportunities and obstacles presented in particular circumstances. In addition, while life planners are often familiar with basic economic principles, they ordinarily are not economists nor do they have special expertise on subjects like the investment value of money or the proper methodology for reducing a future sum of money to its present value.
What Life Care Planners Do.Life care planners attempt to measure and quantify, to the extent reasonably possible, the impact that a serious injury has had and will continue to have on a person's life. In order to do so, life care planners must carefully review the injured person's medical history and records, assess the extent of the underlying injuries, and weigh his or her prognosis for the future. Typically, the life planner also interviews the injured person and family members in order to gauge his or her progress to date and ongoing, foreseeable needs.
Life care plans have a variety of uses. Most often, they help injured persons learn, plan and budget for the additional, future costs associated with their injuries. Where the injury was caused by another's fault, life care plans help any attorneys involved with prospective litigation determine the amount of damages necessary to fairly and reasonably compensate the injured party for his or her injuries. Such plans can also help the defendant's insurance company decide what amount of money to set aside as a reserve for the underlying claim.
Key Factors in Life Care Plans.A good life care plan will consider and review many factors. Typically, medical issues and related needs will predominate in the plan. The life care planner will calculate the likely needs for, and costs of, over-the-counter and prescription medications, medical supplies and durable medical equipment that may be reasonably necessary. If, for example, the injured person requires a wheelchair, the planner will take into account the useful life expectancy of such devices (generally 3 to 7 years depending upon the user's level of activity and the climate where he or she lives).
Based on the injured person's medical records, past history and prognosis, the planner may also project whether future medical procedures may be required and the expenses associated with such foreseeable treatment, possible rehabilitation and any likely physical or occupational therapy thereafter. If the injured person requires emotional and psychological support, the costs of counseling will also be estimated by the life care planner.
Depending on the extent and duration of the injury, the person involved may also need attendant care and household assistance. The costs of these services are more readily estimated when they are provided by home health agencies or third parties outside the household, rather than family members and friends. Damages for the stress or strain placed on the caregivers' familial relationship may be asserted in separate, so-called loss of consortium claims, which are independent of the injured party's direct damages and are typically considered outside the context of the life care plan.
Additional factors in a life care plan may include the expenses associated with: home modifications, adaptive equipment for recreational pursuits, periodic case evaluations, and educational information/materials for investigating and pursuing lifestyle options, as altered by the injury.
None of these factors are, of course, discussed in any depth here. Life care planners or other professionals, who work closely with them, should be consulted for a more particularized analysis based on an individual's unique circumstances.
