Damages and Valuation
Injury Damages
Future medical expenses cover care reasonably certain to be needed after trial: surgeries, therapy, medication, equipment, attendant care, and facility placement. They are established through a life care plan and priced by a life care planner or economist.
Awards are typically reduced to present value so a lump sum today equals the projected future cost stream.
Alternative Names:
Future Medical Damages, Future Care Costs
Why it Matters?
Future care is the largest damages component in catastrophic injury cases, frequently dwarfing lost earnings and past medicals combined. It is also the most assumption-dependent, resting on life expectancy, the frequency and duration of each service, pricing sources, and inflation and discount rates. Small changes in those inputs produce large changes in the total, which makes rigorous critique of the life care plan the highest-value damages work in a serious case.
Frequently Confused with
Related terms
Frequently asked questions
How are future medical expenses proven?
What assumptions most affect the total?
