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Damages Guide
Future Medical Expenses | Attorney Raffi Naljian
Serious injuries often require medical care long after a case settles. Attorney Raffi Naljian explains how to properly calculate and recover future medical expenses in personal injury claims. Ensuring your settlement accounts for lifetime care needs is essential for protecting your financial future.
Need ongoing medical care?
Raffi Naljian
California Personal Injury, Litigation & Criminal Defense Attorney
Raffi Garabed Naljian is an active California attorney listed under State Bar #238919. The State Bar profile lists personal injury, litigation, criminal law, and business law among his self-reported practice areas, and Naljian Law Offices describes a Glendale practice handling criminal defense and civil litigation, including personal injury matters.
View Full ProfileIs This the Right Attorney for Your Case?
Calculating future medical expenses requires understanding your prognosis, projecting future needs, and presenting evidence that insurance companies and juries will accept. Raffi Naljian works with medical and economic experts to document these damages. Also searched as: Rafi Nanaljian, Raffi Nalian, Rafi Naljian.
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Make this damages search useful before you contact Raffi Naljian, Esq.
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What should be in the first folder
If the topic involves value, prepare bills, wage loss, restrictions, and future-care notes. If it involves evidence, prepare photos, witnesses, reports, and record-owner details.
What to Do Next
- 1Complete your current treatment before settling
- 2Ask doctors about your long-term prognosis
- 3Understand what future treatment you may need
- 4Document any permanent conditions
- 5Consider a life care planning evaluation
- 6Keep records of all current care costs
- 7Don't settle until future needs are understood
Evidence Checklist
- Medical records showing prognosis
- Doctor opinions on future care needs
- Life care plan if appropriate
- Cost projections for future treatment
- Documentation of permanent conditions
- Current treatment costs as baseline
- Expert medical opinions
- Economic analysis of lifetime costs
Future care must be part of your recovery.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Settling before prognosis is clear
- Not asking doctors about future needs
- Underestimating lifetime care costs
- Accepting today's costs without inflation
- Not using life care planner when appropriate
- Failing to document permanent conditions
- Ignoring potential future surgeries
How the Process Typically Works
1
Treatment Completion
Reach maximum medical improvement
2
Prognosis Assessment
Understand long-term medical needs
3
Life Care Planning
Develop comprehensive needs projection
4
Economic Analysis
Calculate lifetime costs
5
Claim Resolution
Recover amounts for future care
Damages You May Be Able to Recover
- •Future surgeries and procedures
- •Ongoing therapy and rehabilitation
- •Medication costs
- •Medical equipment and devices
- •Home care services
- •Future doctor visits
- •Anticipated complications
- •Inflation adjustments
Frequently Asked Questions
How are future medical expenses calculated?
Calculation considers your prognosis, anticipated treatments, current costs, inflation, and your life expectancy. Expert testimony often supports these projections.
What is a life care plan?
A life care plan is a document prepared by a specialist that projects all future medical and personal care needs with associated costs. It's common in serious injury cases.
Can I recover for possible future complications?
Yes, if there's a reasonable probability of complications. For example, if your injury creates a 40% chance of future surgery, that can be valued and recovered.
What if my condition improves more than expected?
Once you settle, the settlement is final. That's why accurate prognosis assessment is crucial—both to avoid overestimating and underestimating future needs.
Do settlements account for inflation?
They should. Future medical costs will be higher due to healthcare inflation. Economic experts use present value calculations to determine appropriate amounts.
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Important Disclosures
Attorney Advertising. This website is designed for general information only. The information presented at this site should not be construed as formal legal advice nor the formation of a lawyer/client relationship. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome. No attorney-client relationship is formed by viewing this website or submitting a contact form. Results vary based on the specific facts and circumstances of each case.