Pursuing Compensation for Future Medical Expenses: How Your Car Accident Attorney Can Help
Some injuries following a car crash can be serious and require ongoing medical care. This can happen even if the sufferer has reached maximum medical improvement or MMI, which means they have completed treatment and their injury may not improve further.
Medical care for accident-related injuries can be costly and puts a financial burden on you and your family. But, you can pursue compensation for future medical expenses by filing an injury claim. Car accident attorneys Los Angeles can help determine the value of your expenses and review your claim.
Common Future Medical Expenses for Injuries Due to a Car Accident
Following a claim settlement or court verdict, you may still need ongoing medical care. Your lawyer can consult with your physician to know the types of procedures and treatments that you may need to aid in your recovery and heal continuously. Your future medical expenses may include hospital stays, follow-up doctor’s visits, surgeries, rehab, medical equipment, physical therapy, medications, and more.
In your claim, your injury should be serious; however, it doesn’t need to be permanent to require compensation for future medical care. But, under state law, the recovery of future medical expenses is limited to “reasonably certain” expenses. Such expenses can’t be based on the potential that you might get a certain treatment in the future. Your attorney can help you understand this limitation.
Your Future Medical Care
To determine the possible worth of your future medical care, it is important to consider factors such as your age and life expectancy, the extent and seriousness of your injury, your overall health when the injury happened, your completed recovery stage, as well as the cost of the treatment obtained. An experienced lawyer is well-versed in calculating such expenses. In general, they use methods such as the total lifestyle approach and additional expense method to calculate your future medical care cost.
How to Prove Your Future Medical Expenses
As the claimant or plaintiff, you should prove that the future medical expenses you may incur are reasonably certain. Your attorney will have to bring medical experts into the picture to give testimony. An expert may say that you may need treatment or surgery in the future. Also, your treating physician can give insight into your injuries, the treatments you have completed, and how much ongoing medical care you may need in the future. The ability of your lawyer to recover maximum compensation for you will depend on such testimony.
