Future Medical Care Costs Could Affect Your Injury Settlement
Most personal injury cases don’t end up going to trial, but are resolved through the settlement process. This in turn, involves back and forth negotiations between the parties involved in the case, as well as their insurers. When these parties are able to reach an agreement, then the claimant will accept a certain sum as compensation in exchange for waiving the right to file a legal claim at a later date. The amount that a person settles for, however, depends on a variety of factors, including the kinds of ongoing expenses the victim can expect to continue to incur.
What are Past Medical Care Costs?
Accident victims who are seeking compensation for their losses first typically seek reimbursement for the costs they’ve already paid. This includes medical care they received to diagnose and treat their injuries. These expenses are relatively easy to calculate, as they only require that a claimant have kept copies of his or her medical bills, receipts, and invoices. Unfortunately, these aren’t the only kinds of medical costs that an accident victim can expect to incur. Many of those who sustain serious injuries, for instance, will require care long after their case has been resolved. In these instances, the claimant will need to seek compensation not only for past medical bills, but for future medical care as well.
What are Future Medical Care Expenses?
Future medical expenses, as their name suggests, are a category of costs that an injured party will need to keep paying even when their case has ended. They typically include the cost of:
- Ongoing treatments;
- Medications;
- Surgeries;
- Medical equipment and home modifications;
- Follow-up appointments; and
- Rehabilitation and physical therapy;
Accident victims who are expected to suffer from permanent disability because of their injury or who will need treatment for a number of years should be sure to request coverage of future medical care when making a settlement offer. In doing so, however, claimants will need to establish that those costs are reasonably certain by providing medical evidence. This could include the opinion of a medical expert, as well as that of the treating physician. These specialists will be able to testify as to the severity of an injury and the types of ongoing treatments that others who sustained similar injuries were required to obtain.
Without this evidence, claimants will have a much harder time recovering compensation for future medical care when attempting to settle their claim out of court. However, as long as an injured party can prove adequate evidence, insurers are likely to offer to cover at least part of the amount requested in an effort to avoid paying a larger damages award at trial.
Call Anderson & Anderson for Legal Assistance
At Anderson & Anderson, our experienced Tampa personal injury lawyers and dedicated support staff are well aware of the kinds of physical, emotional, and financial tolls that serious injuries can take on victims and their families. For many, this involves grappling with ongoing medical expenses for years to come. Fortunately, these, and other accident-related costs are recoverable, so if you were injured in an accident and expect to require ongoing care, please call us at 813-251-0072 so we can get started on your case today.
Sources:
floridabar.org/rules/florida-standard-jury-instructions/civil-jury-instructions/civil-instructions/#500
scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6434868370073578800&q=Truelove+v.+Blount+-+954+So.2d+1284&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10′
