Life Care Planning ·
A properly prepared life care plan is the foundation of future damages in catastrophic injury cases. This post explains what goes into a life care plan, how costs are researched, and how to evaluate the quality of a plan in litigation.
A life care plan is a detailed, itemized projection of the future medical, rehabilitative, and support needs of an individual who has sustained a catastrophic or significantly disabling injury or illness. In litigation, it serves as the evidentiary foundation for a forensic economist's present-value damages calculation and as a primary exhibit for communicating the scope and cost of the plaintiff's future care needs to a jury. The quality of the life care plan - the rigor with which it is researched and the defensibility of each recommendation - is one of the most important factors determining the strength of a future damages claim.
Life care plans are organized into discrete cost categories. Typical categories include: recurring medical evaluations and specialist visits; diagnostic imaging and procedures; medications; surgical interventions and projected revisions (such as hardware replacement in orthopedic cases or pump revisions in pain management); physical, occupational, and speech therapy; psychological and psychiatric services; case management; attendant care and home health services; home modifications; durable medical equipment and supplies; wheelchairs and mobility aids; orthotics and prosthetics; vehicle modifications; and, in severe cases, residential care or supported living expenses.
Each line item in a well-prepared plan is supported by an identified medical or clinical foundation. The certified life care planner is not independently recommending medical care; they are systematically organizing and costing out the recommendations made by treating and evaluating physicians, surgeons, and therapists (Weed & Berens, 2018). A plan that includes services without a documented medical recommendation from a qualified provider is vulnerable to challenge on foundation grounds.
Cost research is a critical component of plan quality. Costs should reflect what services actually cost in the relevant geographic market, not national averages or catalog list prices that no one actually pays. Life care planners commonly use medical cost databases (such as those from FAIR Health or comparable regional sources), direct calls to suppliers and providers, and Medicare or Medicaid fee schedules (adjusted for private-pay rates) to establish defensible unit costs (FAIR Health, n.d.; Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, n.d.). The plan should identify the source of each cost estimate so that opposing experts and counsel can verify or challenge the figures.
In evaluating an opposing party's life care plan, counsel and defense experts should systematically examine each significant cost item. Key questions include: Is there a specific physician recommendation for this item? If yes, what is the source document? Was this recommendation made in the context of litigation or in the course of actual treatment? Are the costs based on current market rates in the relevant geography or outdated or inappropriate comparators? Are the frequency and duration assumptions consistent with the medical literature on the condition? Is the life expectancy assumption supported by a physician opinion, or did the life care planner deviate from standard tables (Arias et al., 2025) without adequate foundation?