Mostly, people don’t usually expect to get injured when they step outside their door in the morning. However, severe accidents and injuries can happen anywhere and at any time due to negligence. Being injured through no fault of your own can be extremely frustrating, mainly when it results in physical, emotional, and financial damages that negatively disrupt your life. If you have sustained severe injuries due to someone else’s negligence, contact our trusted Jefferson County Personal Injury Lawyers, who can help you determine whether you can seek compensation for your future medical expenses. Please continue reading to learn how future medical costs are calculated in a personal injury case.
Can I seek compensation for future medical expenses in a personal injury lawsuit?
In a personal injury case, you can seek compensation for your economic and non-economic damages. Your economic damages are any out-of-pocket financial losses that are calculable. This may include medical bills, lost wages, lost earning capacity, and other tangible losses. Your non-economic damages are not quantifiable as they are subjective losses. This may include pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of consortium, emotional distress, and other intangible losses. Therefore, you can seek compensation for your past, present, and future medical expenses. Your future medical expenses refer to the costs you will incur due to your injuries.
How are they calculated?
In a personal injury case, it can be quite challenging to place a value on an individual’s future medical expenses as they have not happened yet. However, attorneys work with healthcare professionals and lifecare planners to determine future medical expenses based on the severity of an individual’s injuries. The additional cost and total lifestyle approach are used to calculate future medical expenses.
The additional expense approach is used when an injured individual is expected to be able to maintain their former lifestyle after recovering. For example, if someone breaks their wrist in a slip-and-fall accident, they will likely recover within a few months. After settling, they may require compensation for medical equipment, physical therapy, counseling, and other damages. However, they will not require ongoing care as they have not sustained permanent injuries.
If an individual sustains catastrophic injuries, the total lifestyle approach will be used to calculate their future medical expenses. This method is used instead because additional compensation may be needed for pain and suffering, loss of enjoyment of life, inconvenience, emotional distress, and other non-economic damages. Those who sustain life-altering injuries are often burdened with subjective losses as they will never be fully restored to their former state of health. The total lifestyle approach is used when an individual cannot maintain their former lifestyle. For example, if an individual is paralyzed from a spinal cord injury after a car accident, the total lifestyle will be used to calculate their future medical expenses.
If you have been injured due to someone else’s negligence, contact a determined lawyer from Alabama Personal Injury Lawyers, LLC, who can help you calculate your future medical expenses. Our firm is committed to helping our clients fight for their rightful compensation.
