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If you are preparing to make an injury claim in the state of Florida, you may be somewhat unaccustomed with what sort of damages you are entitled to under the law.

Personal injury damages can be best separated into two categories: economic damages and noneconomic damages.

Economic damages are those that are easily predictable and measurable.  They involve direct financial losses that resulted from the accident at-issue.  Economic damages include, but are not limited, to medical expenses, wage loss, and property losses.

Noneconomic damages are those that are relatively unpredictable and not easily measured.  They involve emotional losses or other losses not necessarily related to one’s finances.  Noneconomic damages include, but are not limited, to pain and suffering, mental anguish, reputational loss, and more.

Medical expenses are a fundamental part of the economic damages category in most personal injury cases, but making a future medical expense claim is not so simple as making some other economic damages claim.

Recoverable Future Medical Expenses

When you make a claim for future medical expenses in Florida (to recover for your injuries), such expenses will only be recoverable if you can show that they are “reasonably certain to be incurred.” 

Reasonable certainty requires more than the possibility of future treatment.  You will have to demonstrate by the weight of the available evidence (much of which will be medical testimony) that the future treatment – on which the future medical expenses are premised – is more likely necessary than not necessary.

How does this play out?  Though nothing can be said for certain, it is unlikely that particularly risky, experimental, or insignificant future treatments will be viewed as necessary.  The weight of the evidence, including medical testimony, would have to overcome this initial barrier when the treatment is itself rather questionable.

There is no objective standard, of course.  Whether a future treatment is actually necessary is left to the determination of the jury.  To succeed in putting forth a plausible future medical expenses claim, you’ll want to work with a Fort Myers injury law firm that has skilled attorneys like Randall Spivey who can convince the jury that the treatment is necessary and a cost reasonably certain to be incurred.

To understand what type of future medical expenses are likely to be recoverable, consider the following example.

Suppose that you are injured in a car accident.  You experience several fractures as a result.  You recover after significant treatment, but you still continue to suffer from minor and irregular pain that does not affect your work or lifestyle in any substantial manner. 

Your doctors recommend a potential treatment, though it is rather experimental and not 100% certain to resolve the issue.  Under these circumstances, given the rather low level of the continued problem (minor and irregular pain) and the uncertainty of the treatment, it is rather unlikely that such future medical expenses will be recoverable.

On the other hand, if the continued pain was severe and life-changing – perhaps if it influenced whether you could leave the house or work to support your family – then such uncertain treatment might be seen as necessary, despite the risks.  As such, the future medical expenses could be recoverable, given successful legal argument in your favor.

If you have future medical expenses, you should seek the counsel of an experienced personal injury attorney who can successfully argue that your future treatment is necessary and that the costs are reasonably certain to be incurred.  Contact the Spivey Law Firm, Personal Injury Attorneys, P.A. as soon as possible to discuss your case.