First, just like Herndon Reston injury lawyer Doug Landau, Life Care Planners have to read the medical records.  This is not easy.  Not only do some doctors have handwriting that would be impossible for an FBI expert to decipher, but in a traumatic brain injury case, spinal cord injury or paralysis claim, these records are often many hundreds of pages long !  And you cannot just “skim” or “speed read” them, because important information for the life care planner is often found in the details, the nurses’ notes and the abbreviations and test results.

The Life Care Planner uses a standard process to identify the recommendations, including those made by the treating physicians, regarding the medical equipment, services, and treatment required by the patient to promote good health, prevent deterioration and encourage independence. This is not simply a chart to provide minimal assistance, but a flow chart to prevent atrophy from disuse, deterioration and the patient from becoming decrepit.  Through this process the Life Care Planner also identifies the cost, frequency and purpose of the treatments, examinations, therapy modalities and equipment upkeep and replacement. Vendors assist to determine the yearly cost of the item, and a projected life expectancy is utilized to provide costs in today’s dollar amount. The Virginia Code has a Life Expectancy chart (found at Va. Code 8.01-419), and major insurance carriers likewise have charts showing expected duration of life at different given ages.  At ABRAMS LANDAU we will then bring in an economist to evaluate and give us a range of figures for the plan with cost of living variables.