In litigation, the right life care planning expert can make a dramatic difference
High-stakes personal injury and medical malpractice cases involve permanent, catastrophic injuries. These types of injuries may require a lifetime of medical care, and the type and extent of care required is often heavily litigated. Both plaintiff and defense lawyers depend on medical experts to show the jury their side of the damages story.
That’s why life care planners, and especially physician life care planners, can play a vital role in catastrophic injury claims.
What is a life care plan?
A life care plan is a detailed outline of a person’s future medical and rehabilitative needs, including but not limited to:
- Future medical procedures, including surgery
- Medication
- Physical and occupational therapy
- Specialist office visits
- Mental health treatment
- Medical supplies and equipment
- Modifications to the patient’s home or vehicle
- In-home care
Critically, a life care plan also includes an estimate of the cost of those medical goods and services. Since a personal injury judgment or settlement is meant to cover the lifetime cost of an injured person’s medical needs, a life care plan serves a critical role as an evidence-based foundation to help determine the plaintiff’s damages.
The life care planner as an expert witness
Both plaintiff’s lawyers and defense lawyers depend on life care planners to produce detailed plans that establish a baseline for the damages the plaintiff should be awarded. In addition, the life care planner needs to be prepared to defend their work on cross-examination—for instance, it’s critical that your life care planning expert can justify each and every line item in the plan based on evidence in the record.
Furthermore, when both sides present competing life care plans, the experts on each side can be called upon to critique the other side’s plan. As a consulting expert, your life care planner can review the other side’s plan and help develop cross-examination to identify and expose weaknesses or gaps in that plan.
The value of a physician life care planner
While both doctors and other medical professionals can serve as life care planners, physician life care planners are particularly valuable as experts in this field. First, a physician life care planner can independently diagnose the patient and form his or her own medical opinions about the patient’s long-term care needs.
Second, although the jury is certainly not required to give extra weight to a witness’s opinion just because that witness is a doctor, as a practical matter, a physician’s testimony might be more persuasive than a non-physician’s, especially if the expert on the other side is a physician.
If you need a life care planner for a legal matter, contact Rieback Medical-Legal Consultants
For four decades, the team at Rieback Medical-Legal Consultants has been providing the best in medicine to serve the legal community. Our network includes experienced physician life care planners who are ready to prepare detailed, credible life care plans and to offer compelling testimony in depositions and, if necessary, at trial.
If you have a catastrophic injury case, don’t take any unnecessary risks. Contact us today to find the right expert for your needs.
"Very professional, have helped us with several cases. Referred to us by the best of the best" — Benjamin H., ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐