Role of a Life Care Planner in an Oregon Truck Accident Injury Claim

The Oregon Department of Transportation reported 2,174 truck crashes in the state in 2015, which resulted in 1,132 injuries and 61 fatalities.

The number of truck crashes in Oregon has steadily increased over the years – from 1,928 in 2011 to 2,144 in 2014. The incidence of injuries and deaths has also increased proportionately.

The Oregon catastrophic truck accident numbers broadly reflect the national trend. It is tragic that each year more people become victims of big rig accidents and suffer incapacitating injuries.

A life care plan takes into the potential challenges and costs that the victim may have to bear during their lifetime following a catastrophic injury in a truck accident in Oregon.

A good life care plan will comprehensive address the victim’s monetary needs post-accident, which can go a long way in ensuring that they are compensated adequately.

True to its name, a life care plan ensures estimated monetary coverage for the future medical treatment of the victim. These are end-to-end plans covering the entire span of medical treatment. The attending medical practitioner will provide their expert insights in designing such a plan.

A typical life care plan also covers the present and future needs of the victim’s dependents and family. It considers several other factors such as the victim’s income, lifestyle, location, job profile, and more.

Based on these and other professional considerations, a detailed life care plan is prepared for submission to various stakeholders.

Just like an attorney and a doctor, a life care planner should act as the victim’s proverbial friend, philosopher, and guide.

As an educator, they should offer hand-holding support throughout the process of patient recovery and after care. They should execute a consummate life care plan on behalf of the victim, while ensuring that all recommendations made in the plan are followed up precisely and correctly.

A reliable life care planner should also be an excellent communicator. One of their crucial tasks is to provide clear knowledge to the victim about their life care plan, and address all their queries efficiently.

Their objective should be to ensure that the victim is able to live a dignified and self-sufficient life post-accident.

In a personal injury case involving an 18-wheeler, a competent Oregon lawyer may recommend that an experienced life care planner should be engaged.

Their most important contribution is toward drawing a comprehensive medical treatment plan that covers all current and future expenses, including rehabilitation costs.

Life Care Planners also work to gather various expert medical opinions for the case. This input strengthens their life care plan. Often, these planners also integrate medical and psychological rehabilitation to provide for the victim’s holistic recovery.

A typical life care plan incorporates the following:

• Estimation of evaluation and diagnostic costs
• Estimated cost of therapeutic procedures
• Cost of medications
• Pathological tests, patient education, and other costs
• Stocking needs
• Mobility needs such as wheelchair
• Wheelchair accessories and their upkeep
• Care at home and other special care needs
• Projected needs of periodic medical care in future
• Orthopedic or prosthetic needs
• Need for surgical or other invasive treatments
• Transportation and logistics
• Home interior and accessories
• Home layout renovation
• Independent mobility needs
• Leisure or recreational means

The life care plan should have an end-to-end approach that covers the patient’s medical, paramedical, and peripheral needs in a single, well-organized dossier. Such a document becomes a single source of information for all care-related insights.

The life care planner is the professional who acts as a critical loop between the victim, their attorney and the stakeholders at the care-giving end. They will educate all concerned parties on how and why the recommendations of the life care plan are necessary for the victim’s proper recovery and rehabilitation.

They will draw a roadmap for the appropriate implementation of the life care plan. In cases under trial, they play a vital role in educating the legal stakeholders about the nature of the disability, its lifelong implications, and the critical necessity to implement the life care plan in totem.

As such, the planner is a key point of contact for the judge to obtain verified and legally valid case-related information.

A good life care planner can help win a favorable judgment for the victim. They offer objective clarity about the victim’s claim to the judges. Through proper documentation and presentation, they impress upon the legal machinery about the need to take a compassionate and considerate view of the victim’s claim.

Incapacitating injuries in catastrophic truck accidents are major medical events. These accidents can change the lives of the victim in unimaginable ways. Some victims may become immobile for life.

Others may not be able to continue in their previous occupations, and may have to seek new type of work. And some may not be able to work at all.

More often than not, incapacitating injuries have multiple implications and complications for the victim. Moreover, post-treatment and rehabilitation plans may require the involvement of experts from multiple specialized domains, which can add substantially to the future costs of the victim.

Considering these factors, it is vital for a life care planner to collaborate with relevant medical and legal experts and draw a care plan that offers lifelong value. This is a highly responsible task, and a skilled and experienced life care planner would not leave anything to chance.

Regardless of the nature or the extent of the injury, an ideal life care plan should incorporate the following:

• Full-proof appraisal of all the records and the secondary papers.
• The victim’s medical interview, with attachments of their medical history, disclosing any pre-existing conditions, and other medical details.
• The above to be preferably attended by a family or a close contact.
• Details of the patient-medical team interaction, attached by medical details other than the above are revealed.
• Details of pre and post-procedure medical care requirements. This will determine the actual needs and their tenure. The details should be well-researched and evidence-based.
• Supplementary data of care needs procured while discussing the case with peripheral medical experts.

Each of the above-listed steps should be rigorously and systematically documented by the life care planner, and presented as a dossier to the stakeholders.