A life care plan is a detailed report that sets forth current and anticipated future costs of medical bills, lost earning capacity and other expenses following a serious injury.
The report is often used in a Nevada personal injury case to show the compensatory damages caused by another party’s negligence or other wrongful act.
Costs illustrated by a comprehensive life care plan can include (but are not limited to):
- Doctor’s visits,
- Therapy and rehabilitation,
- Surgical costs,
- Medical equipment,
- Lost earning capacity,
- Pain and suffering, and
- Costs of remodeling or modifying your home or vehicle.
To help you better understand life care plans, our Nevada personal injury lawyers discuss, below:
- 1. What is a life care plan?
- 2. What expenses should the plan address?
- 3. How is a life care plan used in a Las Vegas personal injury case?
- 4. How is life expectancy calculated in Nevada?
- 5. What types of personal injury cases benefit from a life care plan?
A life care plan is often used in a Nevada personal injury case to show the compensatory damages caused by another party’s negligence or other wrongful act.
1. What is a life care plan?
A life care plan is a list of your current and anticipated future medical needs and costs after having suffered a catastrophic or permanent injury or illness.
Life care plans are often used in personal injury and insurance litigation to help establish your damages.
2. What expenses should the plan address?
The specific needs addressed in a life care plan depend on you. Though expenses set forth in a life care plan in Nevada often include (without limitation):
- Routine medical care.
- Surgeries (including reconstruction).
- Psychological care.
- Occupational or vocational therapy.
- Costs of long-term or short-term care facilities.
- Home health care.
- Medications.
- Diagnostic tests and ability assessments.
- Supplies and equipment (diapers, wheelchairs, IV equipment, etc.).
- Home modifications (handrails and wheelchair ramps).
- Home furnishings (such as bath lifters or hospital beds).
- “Slip-and-fall” alarms.
- Prosthetics or orthotics.
- Transportation.
- Child care.
- Other special aid, equipment or accommodations.
3. How is a life care plan used in a Las Vegas personal injury case?
Under Nevada law, there is no fixed standard for determining the damages a jury can award for a catastrophic injury. The jury can award any reasonable damages it sees fit.1
A comprehensive and well-drafted life care plan can help the jury understand all the costs you will have to bear during your “life expectancy.”
This can include evidence obtained from (among others):
- Your physicians,
- Your therapists,
- You (if possible),
- Friends, family and co-workers,
- Medical equipment and supply vendors,
- Home contractors, and
- Expert witnesses, such as vocational experts.
Factors the jury may take into account include your health, habits, activities, lifestyle, and occupation.
4. How is life expectancy calculated in Nevada?
A calculation of damages usually begins with published mortality tables.2 These help a jury determine the “life expectancy” of a similarly situated person.
Published mortality tables are not conclusive, however. It is up to the jury to determine your life expectancy as it existed just before the incident or accident.
Factors the jury may take into account include your
- health,
- habits,
- activities,
- lifestyle, and
- occupation.
For instance, if you were a minor, the jury may conclude you would have had a shorter life expectancy than an average person of your gender and race.
Or the jury might conclude that you lived a healthy lifestyle and might have lived longer.
5. What types of injury cases benefit from a life care plan?
If you have a catastrophic or permanent injury, you can benefit from a life care plan. Cases in which they are particularly useful include:
- Anesthesia injuries,
- Birth injuries,
- Burn injuries,
- Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE),
- Drowning accidents,
- Head injuries,
- Loss of limbs,
- Nerve injuries,
- Spinal cord injuries,
- Traumatic brain injury (“TBI”).
Need help with a life care plan in Nevada? Call us…
Call us for help!
If you or someone you love suffered a catastrophic injury as the result of someone else’s wrongful act, we invite you to contact us for a free consultation.
We handle all types of personal injury claims, including car accidents, medical malpractice, products liability, dog bites and “slip-and-fall” accidents. We also represent spouses and registered domestic partners who have experienced a loss of consortium in Nevada because of the injury to their spouse or partner.
Call us to schedule your consultation with one of our lawyers.
Or complete the form on this page and we will contact you at a convenient time.
We can also help if you need a life care plan for a California personal injury case.
Legal references:
- Canterino v. The Mirage Casino-Hotel, 16 P.3d 415 (2001); Stackiewicz v. Nissan Motor Corp. in U.S.A., 686 P.2d 925 (1984).
- Commonly used life expectancy tables are the Vital Statistics of the United States, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics.