Life Care Plans

Life care planners play an integral role in determining present and future costs associated with the plaintiff's injuries. In many cases, an attorney simply lacks the expertise to accurately calculate how much a client's long term costs will be. From home nursing to rehabilitation, to supplies and equipment, to medical consultations and ongoing care, every expense must be considered when calculating the true cost of a client's injury.

Life care planners fill this niche by bringing to the table extensive experience and training in determining the ultimate cost of injuries.

Life care planning includes the methodology utilized to project the future care needs of a disabled person and the costs associated with both the medical and non-medical needs over the projected term that the disability is going to be in evidence. This is usually one's statistical lifetime. The Life Care Plan is the document that is created which sets forth these needs and the costs to provide for them.

The Life Care Plan is intended to address 18 areas of a person's life which can be affected by a disability. These areas are:

1. Projected evaluations;
2. Projected therapeutic modalities;
3. Diagnostic/educational testing;
4. Wheelchair mobility;
5. Wheelchair maintenance;
6. Orthotics/prosthetics;
7. Orthotic equipment;
8. Durable medical items;
9. Aids for independent function;
10. Supplies;
11. Medication;
12. Home care;
13. Facility care;
14. Future medical care - routine;
15. Transportation;
16. Architectural renovation;
17. Leisure time/recreational;
18. Surgical intervention/aggressive treatment plan.

Not every person with a disability requires assistance in all of these areas. The key to understanding the impact of disability, however, is to recognize how the disability will affect him on a daily basis. For instance, will a disability affect a child's ability to go to school? Will one's ability to work be affected? Will the elderly patient with a cardiac condition be able to socialize in the manner he did prior to the myocardial infarction which has significantly impaired his functional capabilities on a daily basis? The life care planner is charged with addressing all of these issues and determining the most effective way for the individual to resume a productive lifestyle.

AMFS provides counsel access to life care planners capable of performing these complex assessments and empowering counsel with hard data supporting their clients' claims for damages.