Future Medical Expenses in Personal Injury: Challenging Causation, Predicting Future Need, Establishing Costs

Description

If a plaintiff can prove a defendant's liability in a personal injury case, he or she can potentially recover future medical expenses. Those future expenses may reflect additional treatment arising for new or different diseases or conditions caused by the original injury. To recover future medical costs, especially those related to a progression of the original injury, the plaintiff must demonstrate to a reasonable "certainty" or a reasonable "probability" that the injured party will require additional treatment or develop a particular disease or condition.

Plaintiffs' experts often cite studies showing that people with similar injuries or exposure as the plaintiff have a greater risk of developing a condition or disease. Attorneys defending against this notion must critically analyze scientific literature and studies on which the plaintiff expert relies. They must understand the difference between risk and causation, and the difference between the statistical confidence or certainty in the study result, and the statistical likelihood of adverse future events indicated by the study.

Anticipated future medical costs must be reasonable. When quantifying future damages, counsel must grasp the evidence that will be allowed. Some courts allow juries to consider "billed" or "full price" costs (regardless whether those amounts are ever paid), while others limit to "market rates," i.e., reduced rates negotiated between healthcare providers and insurers. The defense may argue that the negotiated rates apply to future treatment, which plaintiffs must be prepared to rebut.

Listen as our distinguished panel guides personal injury attorneys on proving and disproving causation of future medical expenses. The panel will discuss best practices for calculating damages, conducting voir dire, and preparing jury instructions before trial.