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If you’ve been injured in an accident, assessing the cost of future care can be a challenge. Once the numbers have been estimated, it can add to a very expensive amount. With the cost of healthcare, this amount of expenses for future care for a personal injury is rarely easily payable by the average person.
Even with publically funded healthcare, the recovery costs can be staggering. In Ontario, those who have become victim to a life changing personal injury from a car accident may be eligible for compensation to help with the healthcare costs needed to make any type of recovery. Often the compensation will come through the insurance policy of the person who caused the accident.
Compensation includes past and current costs of care, as well as future care costs. The former are easier to figure out because the numbers can be collected and added up. However, future care costs are more difficult to figure out and include a more complicated process. Future care costs, called pecuniary damages in legalese, include therapy, counselling, medications, assistive devices, lost wages, special assessments, and property damages. Age of the plaintiff must be taken into consideration as well as the likelihood of improvement or decline of health as a result of injuries sustained in the accident. Whether or not a caregiver will be required is also taken into consideration. Often the impact of the injury on the family is also taken into consideration. For example, if the plaintiff was the caregiver of a disabled family member, care for that family member will need to be considered when determining future care costs.
Determining detailed costs for future care is essential for personal injury cases involving serious or life alters disabilities. These are called catastrophic injury claims and future care costs represent the biggest monetary segment of this type of claim. If you’re in this type of situation, your personal injury lawyer will probably request that a Cost of Future Care Report be completed by a certified rehabilitation registered nurse. This report will include an analysis of your functional status after examining you, reviewing your medical records and consulting with relevant family and health care providers.The following is important to get an accurate Cost of Future Care Report:
• Informed consent. The injured person will need to give consent to share information about themselves. Information shared include marital status, date of birth, education, job, length of time at current job, if there are children and their ages, as well as pre-accidents sports and interests and social life. Accident history and information about personal health history will also be collected.
• Current health. Current health will be analyzed including physical and emotional health, and cognitive ability.
• Post-accident ability. It will be decided how the accident has impacted the plaintiff’s functional living abilities. Functional living abilities include activities often taken for granted such as walking, sitting, carrying items, stair climbing, reaching overhead, and bending or kneeling.