A catastrophic injury can create medical and support needs that continue long after the initial hospitalization or rehabilitation ends. When those needs are expected to last for years or for life, a personal injury claim may need to account for care that has not yet occurred.
With a catastrophic injury, future care may continue for years and become a major part of the damages claim.
At Shea & Shea, we have represented injury victims since 1966, with a particular focus on serious brain and spinal injuries. When future care is a significant part of a claim, we may work with treating physicians, a qualified life care planner, and other appropriate professionals to document an injured person’s anticipated needs. Learn more about our catastrophic injury representation.
A life care plan can help organize that evidence and place projected needs in the context of the broader damages claim. We coordinate the legal process and evaluate how the plan fits with the medical evidence, while medical and rehabilitation professionals provide opinions within their respective fields.
What Is a Life Care Plan in a Personal Injury Case?
A life care plan is a detailed projection of care and related resources an injured person is expected to need because of a serious injury. Professional life care planning standards emphasize individualized assessment, planning, collaboration, and appropriate resource use.
A litigation-focused life care plan is different from advance-care planning. Advance-care planning addresses a person’s preferences for future medical decision-making, including situations in which the person cannot communicate those wishes. A litigation life care plan focuses instead on injury-related needs and their projected costs.
How Is a Life Care Plan Created?
Creating a life care plan begins with the injured person’s medical history and current needs. The planner may review medical and rehabilitation records, diagnoses, treatment history, and information about the person’s ability to perform everyday activities.
The review may also consider recommendations from treating physicians and other medical professionals. Interviews with the injured person or family can provide more information about day-to-day limitations and the assistance currently being provided.
The planner can then compare the medical record with those recommendations and evaluate how the person’s needs may change over time. From there, the planner may research the expected frequency, duration, and reasonable cost of supported services.
The result should reflect the individual rather than assume that everyone with the same diagnosis will require the same long-term care.
Who May Contribute to a Life Care Plan?
A life care plan may draw on information from several professionals. The people involved depend on the injury and the types of future care being projected.
For example, the process may involve:
- Treating physicians who address diagnosis, prognosis, and anticipated treatment
- Rehabilitation professionals who evaluate ongoing therapy and functional needs
- Certified life care planners who organize supported recommendations and research projected costs
- Vocational professionals when rehabilitation or return-to-work services are relevant
Other expert witnesses may become involved when specialized medical or financial analysis is needed.
For a life care planner, a lawsuit involving catastrophic injury may require careful review of the medical evidence before future care needs and costs are projected. The planner does not necessarily make every medical determination independently. Medical expert testimony may be needed to support a projected course of care.
What Can a Life Care Plan Include?
What a life care plan includes depends on the injured person’s condition and anticipated needs.
Potential areas can include:
- Ongoing medical care, including medication and future surgeries when supported by the evidence
- Rehabilitation services based on the injured person’s functional needs
- Equipment and assistive technology, such as wheelchairs or prostheses
- Medical supplies and replacement equipment
- Home modifications or vehicle adaptations
- Nursing or attendant care
- Transportation related to medical or rehabilitation needs
- Case management and vocational rehabilitation
Some expenses recur frequently. Others arise periodically, such as replacing a wheelchair or prosthetic device. A useful plan identifies those differences rather than treating every projected expense the same way.
How Life Care Plans Support Future Damages in California
A life care plan can help connect medical evidence to future medical costs for an injury claim. It does not mean that every expense listed in the plan will be recovered.
Under California law, future medical expenses must be supported by evidence showing that the care is:
- Reasonably necessary
- Reasonably certain to be needed in the future
- Supported by reasonable cost evidence
California’s CACI 3903A reflects this standard.
The 2024 decision in Yaffee v. Skeen shows why that support matters. Although a physician identified future medical services and a certified life care planner estimated their costs, the Court of Appeal found insufficient evidence that one proposed implanted device was reasonably certain to be needed.
Long-term projections may also account for life expectancy when recurring needs such as attendant care are expected to continue for years. Some future economic damages can also involve present-value analysis. Together, these considerations help determine how future medical care and expenses should be supported and presented.
Life Care Plan Examples for Catastrophic Injuries
The person’s limitations, prognosis, and medical recommendations determine what should be considered.
Traumatic Brain Injury
A severe traumatic brain injury can affect cognition, movement, and a person’s ability to function independently. Our brain injury lawyers represent clients dealing with the long-term effects of serious brain trauma.
A TBI life care plan may address rehabilitation, ongoing treatment, supervision, and support with daily activities. The plan should reflect the individual’s actual deficits and anticipated course.
Spinal Cord Injury
Spinal cord injuries can create substantial mobility and self-care needs. Our spinal cord injury lawyers understand the importance of forecasting care for injuries that may require treatment and support over a lifetime.
The plan can reflect how rehabilitation needs evolve and what support the person may require to maintain mobility and live safely at home.
Amputation
An amputation can create recurring needs that extend beyond the initial surgery. Our amputation injury lawyers handle claims that may involve prosthetic costs, therapy, and assistance with daily living.
A plan may evaluate prosthetic fitting and replacement, rehabilitation costs, mobility aids, vehicle adaptations, or treatment related to the residual limb. The appropriate projections depend on the level of amputation and the person’s medical circumstances.
How Can a Life Care Plan Be Challenged?
Life care plans are evidence, and opposing parties can dispute the assumptions behind them. Insurance companies and defense attorneys may retain their own physicians, planners, or other witnesses.
Common disputes may involve:
- Whether a treatment is medically necessary or reasonably certain to occur
- How frequently a service will be required
- How long a particular need is expected to continue
- The expected useful life of equipment
- The method used to determine reasonable costs
Competing planners may reach different conclusions about needed services and their value. California cases have addressed disputes over different methods of projecting future medical costs. That is one reason the plan should remain closely tied to medical records, qualified opinions, and defensible cost research.
How We Approach Life Care Planning in Catastrophic Injury Cases
At Shea & Shea, we evaluate the future consequences of a serious injury as part of developing the overall damages claim. When substantial ongoing care is expected, that may include determining if a formal life care plan would help document those needs.
Our role may include gathering medical and rehabilitation records, identifying issues that require further evaluation, and working with the appropriate treating providers and expert witnesses. We can also provide the life care planner with relevant case materials and evaluate how the completed analysis fits with the medical evidence and the broader damages claim.
Once a plan has been developed, we evaluate it within the larger claim. That can involve:
- Comparing projected care with the medical opinions supporting it
- Developing evidence for the reasonable cost of future needs
- Addressing challenges raised by insurance companies or defense attorneys
- Incorporating supported future-care damages into settlement negotiations, mediation, or trial
We do not determine which medical treatments a client will need or direct an expert witness to reach a particular conclusion. Those opinions must come from appropriately qualified professionals. Our role as the personal injury attorney is to develop and present the evidence needed to establish the client’s damages under California law.
A life care plan also represents only part of the damages analysis. We may separately evaluate lost earning capacity and other economic losses, as well as pain, emotional suffering, and changes in quality of life.
For individuals and families in San Diego, planning for life after a catastrophic injury often means looking beyond the next medical appointment to years of treatment, rehabilitation, and daily support. Our San Diego catastrophic injury lawyers help evaluate how those anticipated needs fit into a personal injury claim. When a life care plan is appropriate, we work with qualified professionals to connect projected care costs with the supporting medical evidence and present a clearer picture of the injury’s long-term financial impact.
FAQs
Does every catastrophic injury case require a life care plan?
No. A formal life care plan is not necessary in every case. It may be useful when an injury is expected to produce substantial future medical, rehabilitation, equipment, or caregiving needs over many years.
Who prepares a life care plan?
A qualified life care planner generally prepares the plan, using medical records and appropriate input from treating physicians, therapists, rehabilitation providers, and other health care professionals. At Shea & Shea, we may help determine when a life care plan is appropriate, provide relevant case materials, coordinate with the professionals involved, and use the completed analysis as part of presenting supported future damages.
Can a life care plan include home care and home modifications?
Yes. When supported by medical and functional evidence, a plan may include nursing services, personal assistance, accessibility changes, or other home-based support. The amount and duration should reflect the injured person’s needs.
Can a life care plan include future surgery?
Yes, but the projected procedure needs adequate evidentiary support. Under California law, future medical care must be reasonably certain to be needed. A procedure that is merely possible may not meet that standard.
Can the defense prepare its own life care plan?
Yes. The defense may retain its own life care planner or other witnesses to dispute proposed services, costs, duration of care, or underlying medical assumptions.
Is a life care plan the same as a lost-earnings calculation?
No. A life care plan generally projects future care and support needs. Lost wages and loss of future earning capacity concern the effect of the injury on employment and income and may require separate vocational or economic analysis.
Talk to Shea & Shea About a Catastrophic Injury Claim
Serious injuries can create financial consequences that extend far into the future. Our California personal injury lawyers work to identify both immediate losses and future effects that can be supported by the evidence.
If you or a family member suffered a catastrophic injury because of another party’s negligence, contact Shea & Shea for a free consultation. We can review the circumstances, explain how future damages may be evaluated, and discuss the next steps available in your case.