Past and Future Medical Costs in Personal Injury Cases
If you have been injured in some sort of accident or incident in South Florida and another party is at fault, you are entitled to damagesfor any medical expenses incurred as a result of the injuries sustained. Past medical expenses usually present a simple issue, as they entail money you already have spent (or debts you have incurred) from past medical treatment. On the other hand, medical expenses for future medical treatment or medical treatment that extends beyond the conclusion of your personal injury case can present an issue for injury victims in personal injury cases. In this blog post, we will discuss past and future medical expenses in personal injury cases.
Future Medical Costs
Typically, future medical costs are an issue with serious injuries or long-term conditions that will need continued medical care. In general, future medical expenses include reasonable and necessary health care expenses incurred in the treatment of injuries suffered as a result of another person’s negligence. A person who is injured at the fault of another is entitled to the reasonable value of the medical treatment that is reasonable and necessary due to the accident. Why is the term “reasonable” used so much? If a person is injured, they should not rack up an exorbitant amount of bills for medical treatment, which they don’t need, and expect to be compensated. Instead, they should be reasonable about getting treatment, and get it for a reasonable cost. How does a person determine the “reasonable value” of services? The answer is somewhat complicated. It depends on who the provider is and what they are charging for their services. Recovering such future costs generally requires showing that there is a “reasonable probability” the injuries suffered in the accident will require the injured party to continue to incur medical treatment and pay for these expenses in the future. Future medical costs, obviously, haven’t happened yet, and can’t be proven by bills that have yet to be incurred or paid. Future medical expenses may consist of a combination of physical and mental therapies, medications, in-home care, surgeries, and other future medical care.
Proving Future Medical Costs
Future medical costs are obtainable in personal injury cases. However, they must be proven with some degree of certainty. Proving future medical costs can quickly become a complex issue in a personal injury case because in order to receive compensation for these damages, an injury victim needs to provide reliable evidence of the costs. For example, if a person has a severe injury, such as paralysis, they will likely require a lot of future care. Most times, if not all the time, this is done through either expert reports or expert testimony. For instance, what do you do if an injury victim is going to need surgery in the future due to the severity of their injury but is not eligible to get the surgery right away? Most experienced personal injury attorneys know that you can send the injury victim to a surgeon to get an initial consultation complete with a report that estimates the future cost of surgery. That documentation can be sent to the other side’s insurance company so that they can assess how much the personal injury claim is worth and put that in their calculation of how much they will offer to settle the personal injury claim. Proving future medical costs can quickly become a complex issue to handle as finding and dealing with experts can become complicated.
Speak with a Personal Injury Lawyer Today!
At Suarez & Montero, we are ready and equipped to handle your traffic accident case. We most frequently handle personal injury cases involving automobile accidents, truck accidents, slip and fall accidents, motorcycle accidents, along with other types of motor vehicle collision cases and accidents. The car accident attorneys at Suarez & Montero have the resources and experience to successfully accomplish your goal of receiving maximum compensation for your personal injury claim. Our firm believes that the top priority for our clients should be recovering from their injury in order to return to their normal everyday lives. That is why we offer our legal services with no money down and no fees unless we are successful in recovering compensation in your case. Our attorneys are ready to provide proven legal representation and stand ready to protect your rights. We are available 24/7 to give you a free, no risk case consultation!
We serve clients throughout Florida including those in the following areas:
Miami-Dade: Aventura, Coral Gables, Doral, Fontainebleau, Hialeah, Homestead, Kendall, Miami, Miami Beach, Miami Lakes, North Miami, Tamiami, and Westchester.
Broward: Fort Lauderdale, Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Pembroke Pines, and Weston; and Palm Beach County including Boca Raton, Lake Worth, and West Palm Beach.
