People who suffer paralysis, amputation, cognitive impairment, or other catastrophic injuries typically require medical care for the rest of their lives. Even less-permanent injuries like broken bones and burns can require months or years of treatment and therapy.
This often amounts to tens of thousands of dollars in bills. If you were hurt suddenly and unexpectedly in an accident, how could you possibly afford this level of medical care?
Accurately calculating the total cost of your damages is one of the most important aspects of any personal injury case. Whether you were injured in a car accident, workplace accident, or through medical malpractice, your claim to compensation needs to ascribe an accurate value to your losses. Undervaluing your personal injury can lead to a situation in which you are forced to pay for medical bills and other expenses out of your own pocket.
After an accident caused by another party’s negligence, many people worry about how they will afford medical care, especially when treatments stretch indefinitely into the future.
At Stapp Law, LLC, our legal team knows how to calculate the costs of future medical care—so you never run out of funding for your recovery. We have years of experience guiding the people of Williamsport through complex personal injury matters. We know we need to dedicate significant time and effort to truly understand your case, taking into consideration every financial loss you have and will incur in the future.
If you are unsure how to calculate the costs of future medical care for your personal injury, contact our Lycoming County office today for a free case evaluation. An experienced attorney can advise you about the best way to obtain a fair settlement amount.
What Kind of Medical Care Do Injury Victims Require?
If you’re lucky, a post-accident trip to the hospital or doctor’s office could be the end of your medical care. But for thousands of people each year, serious accident injuries aren’t dealt with so quickly. If you haven’t reached maximum medical improvement (MMI) by the time your personal injury claim is resolved, you may find that you require compensation for future medical expenses.
Depending on the type and severity of the injury you suffered, your medical care could involve a wide range of tests, procedures, treatments, therapy, medication, and adaptive equipment.
Calculating the cost of medical care after an injury involves looking at expenses for:
- Hospital visits and extended hospitalization periods
- Ambulance rides
- Doctor and specialist appointments
- Follow-up visits
- X-rays, MRIs, CT scans, lab tests, blood panels, or other necessary diagnostic testing
- Prescription medication
- Surgery or other medical interventions
- Medical equipment like crutches or a wheelchair
- Prosthetic or orthopedic devices
- Adaptations to a home or vehicle to accommodate a disability
- Home health care and domestic services
- Moving to a new home or care facility if needed
- Physical therapy and rehabilitation
- Other forms of therapy as your situation warrants, such as mental health counseling, occupational therapy, or speech therapy
How Can I Recover Costs of Future Medical Care in a Personal Injury Claim?
Adding up all the bills you’ve already received is difficult enough. Calculating the cost of future medical care is a different task altogether.
In order to recover costs of future medical treatment, you will need to work with a qualified lawyer who also has a connection to professional experts. These experts can help analyze what care you will require in the future and how much that care will cost. Experts can also take into account the rising cost of medical care and make calculations based on inflation. If your attorney doesn’t have the support of professionals like medical experts, accountants, and life planning experts, it will be impossible to come up with an accurate number to reflect your future costs.
In addition to partnering with expert witnesses, your lawyer will also need to collaborate with your treating physicians. As the people who understand your medical condition the best, your health care providers will be an indispensable part of calculating the costs of your future medical care.
Finally, your personal injury lawyer will need to put their own expertise to work in calculating compensation for accident victims. Using a calculation technique, your lawyer will put all the information together to come up with a fair settlement amount. This amount should properly value your injuries and ascribe a total dollar amount to all past, current, and future losses.
Your Lawyer Will Fight for Your Right To Future Medical Care
But the hard work doesn’t end there. It’s now up to your legal representative to see that you are awarded this full and fair amount of compensation. This often involves ongoing negotiations with an insurance company. Insurance companies are notorious for undervaluing injury claims. Your lawyer will need to work diligently to gather and supply the evidence needed to prove your right to maximum compensation.
In cases in which an out-of-court settlement can’t be reached, your attorney should be prepared to take your case before a judge and jury. Not all personal injury attorneys have experience in court. Before you decide to hire a personal injury law firm to advocate for you, be sure that an attorney on the team has the experience you need to give your case the best chance of success in a courtroom.
Stapp Law, LLC Has a Reputation for Defending Clients’ Rights
At the Williamsport personal injury law firm of Stapp Law, LLC, our clients are at the center of every decision we make. If you come to us for help after an injury, we won’t just look at what you’ve already lost. We’ll look to see how your injury has changed the course of your future.
Our lawyers have the skill and experience to know how to calculate the costs of future medical care for our clients. We also have strong connections throughout the medical community in Williamsport, Lycoming County, and the greater Susquehanna Valley. We routinely partner with top experts in their field who can give your case the credibility it needs to be taken seriously by the insurance company. And if we need to take your case before a judge, we have the utmost confidence in our law firm’s notable track record in Pennsylvania courts.
Don’t wait to learn how you can protect your rights after injury. Contact Stapp Law, LLC today to take advantage of your free, no-obligation case consultation with a top Williamsport personal injury attorney.
