The uncertainty of future medical expenses makes them controversial. Projecting
future medical costs requires a long-term prognosis for both the plaintiff and
the economy. Given the recent inflation rate for health care, any projection of
the cost of care 30 years in the future will result in an astronomical number.
The plaintiff's most certain evidence of future medical needs is the current
cost of the needed medical care. If the plaintiff requires constant care, the
jury's starting point is the current cost of these services. To attack the
plaintiff's projections successfully, the defendant must convince the jury that
the plaintiff's condition will improve. Conversely, the defendant's position is
strongest when the plaintiff is not currently in need of medical care.
Awards for future medical expenses underlie many large jury verdicts. The
largest awards are for persons who will require long-term skilled nursing case,
augmented with acute medical services. Central nervous system injuries are
perhaps the most expensive, especially given the legal assumption that the
patient will have the same life span as an uninjured person of the same age.
Although respiratory and other complications greatly decrease the average
survival of severely brain-injured patients or those with high spinal cord
injuries, the law is concerned with the theoretical possibility of a long life,
not its statistical probability. It is the cost of future medical
rehabilitative services that makes birth injury cases so expensive.
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