Life Care Plans in Traumatic Brain Injury Cases: Challenging Future Damages Calculations

Recording of a 90-minute CLE video webinar with Q&A

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Conducted on Monday, December 20, 2021

Recorded event now available

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Course Materials

This CLE course will guide personal injury counsel in using or challenging life care plans offered in traumatic brain injury cases to measure and present future medical damages. The panel will also explain strategies that defense counsel frequently use to challenge life care plans throughout a case: discovery, cross-examination of life-care planning experts, and closing argument.

Description

Plaintiffs' counsel frequently use life care plans in traumatic brain injury cases to support their contentions regarding damages and the projected cost of future medical expenses. The life care plan is dynamic and based on published standards of practice. The life care plan should include a comprehensive assessment of the plaintiff's medical condition and outline the plaintiff's current and future needs and all associated costs.

Plaintiffs' counsel must understand how to effectively utilize life care plans to bolster their clients' damages recovery. Counsel must also ensure the cost estimates for future care stated in the plans align with the actual costs of the plaintiff's current treatment while considering a reasonable estimate of rising healthcare costs. Plaintiffs' attorneys must be ready to withstand attacks against life care plans by defendants' counsel relating to the type of treatments proposed, their long-term effectiveness, and provisions for new therapies and treatments.

Defendants' counsel must prepare to attack a plaintiff's life care plan. Even seemingly invulnerable life care plans can be discredited through discovery, motions, and cross-examination. Further attacks arise from Daubert challenges against the life care planning expert.

Listen as our authoritative panel discusses the plaintiffs' and defendants' perspectives on the use of life care plans in traumatic brain injury litigation.

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Outline

  1. Overview of life care plans
  2. Plaintiff strategies
  3. Defense strategies

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • The evolution of life care plans and life care planners
  • Analyzing items/services involved in traumatic brain injury litigation
  • Discovering the life care planner's methodology
  • Distinguishing medically necessary from medically beneficial
  • Exploring bias and prejudice
  • Critical lines of questioning when deposing a life care planner
  • Addressing life care plans during mediations
  • Attacking and defending life care planners at trial

Faculty

Cowen, Todd
Dr. Todd D. Cowen
Certified Physician Life Care Planner
Todd Cowen

Dr. Cowen is a medical doctor board certified in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation as well as Pain Management. He...  |  Read More

Glas, John Jerry
John Jerry Glas
Chair, Civil Litigation Department
Deutsch Kerrigan

Mr. Glas has tried more than seventy jury trials to verdict, and his practice includes significant experience handling...  |  Read More

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