Pursuing Future Medical Expenses

Some accident-related injuries end up being so severe that they require ongoing medical care for years to come. This care can be quite costly, placing an enormous financial burden on injured victims and their families. Fortunately, injured parties are often able to pursue compensation not only for their past and current medical expenses, but also for future treatment. To learn more about how these amounts are determined or to speak with a member of our legal team about the potential value of your own injury claim, please reach out to our dedicated Fort Lauderdale personal injury lawyers today.

Examples of Future Medical Expenses

Often, accident victims who receive a personal injury verdict or who reach a settlement with the at-fault party may not yet be completely healed, but might still need help recuperating. Future medical expenses that could be incurred by accident victims include:

• Hospital visits;
• Surgery;
• Diagnostic testing;
• Prescription medications;
• Physical therapy;
• Medical equipment;
• Home modifications; and
• In-home care.

An accident victim’s injury doesn’t need to be permanent in order for him or her to be compensated for this type of future medical care. The recovery of future medical expenses cannot, however, be based on the mere possibility that a person will require treatment in the future. State law, for instance, limits a person’s recovery of future medical expenses to costs that are reasonably certain to be incurred.

Determining the Value of Future Medical Care

Determining how much future medical care could end up costing can be difficult, as an injured party is attempting to place a value on something that hasn’t happened yet. The biggest factor used to assess the cost of potential future medical care is determining what types of treatment will be needed. A person who may require additional surgeries, for instance, can expect to recover a larger award for future medical expenses than someone who may only need prescription medications for a couple of months. Other facts that a jury could consider when attempting to place a value on future medical treatment include:

• The injured party’s age and life expectancy;
• The injured party’s overall health at the time of the injury;
• The extent and severity of the injury in question;
• The cost of treatments that have already been performed; and
• The injured party’s stage of recovery.

To learn more about calculating these expenses, reach out to a member of our legal team today.

Proving Future Medical Expenses

Before an injured party can collect compensation for future medical expenses, he or she will need to be able to prove that those expenses are reasonably certain to be incurred. The testimony of medical experts will usually be required to satisfy this evidentiary burden. A specialist, for instance, may need to testify that a treatment will “more likely than not” be needed in the future.

Contact Our Dedicated Personal Injury Attorneys for Help

If you sustained serious injuries in an accident and require ongoing medical care, please reach out to the experienced Florida personal injury lawyers at Boone & Davis for help. You can set up a free, no obligation consultation by calling our office at 954-566-9919 or by completing one of our online contact forms.

Resource:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6434868370073578800&q=Truelove+v.+Blount,+954+So.+2d+1284&hl=en&as_sdt=6,45