What is a Life Care Plan?

An auto accident can happen to any of us and cause severe injury; or a slip-and-fall accident, a near-drowning, or a fire. Catastrophic injuries usually leave a person with permanent disabilities, perhaps to the point where they need daily care for the rest of their life.

Catastrophic injures include:

· Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI)

· Spinal cord injuries

· Severe burns

· Amputations

· Birth injuries

In past eras, such injuries would usually have ended the person’s life, but our modern medical professionals have vastly increased expertise in how to treat emergency injuries, how to prevent secondary injuries that stem from the original injury, and how to restore function, at least to some extent.

There are wide arrays of prosthetics, medications, and therapies that can restore function and enable the injured person to manage their own daily living. But there are still cases where living assistance is needed, and in those cases, the burden of setting it all up and paying for it can overwhelm a grieving family.

Rather than family members having to run around trying to get oxygen tanks delivered, find a nice-enough long-term care facility, or choose the best sort of wheelchair, a life care plan case manager can be appointed to coordinate all such necessities and have them done in a customized way for the individual person.

Life Care Planning Certification

A qualified life care planner has certification. Universities offer continuing education programs to teach nurses and other healthcare professionals how to do all the tasks that might otherwise confound family members and perhaps not get done well or in good time. Examples are:

· Planning the injured person’s hospital discharge

· Finding a good-quality long-term care facility or helping family members to become equipped and informed in how to provide necessary care

· Coordinating all outpatient care such as medications; any therapy such as respiratory, physical, or speech therapy; and all medical appointments

· Finding wheelchair-accessible transportation

· Determining what home modifications might be necessary, and having them done

· Arranging for any education or training the disabled person might be able to accomplish

· Completing all insurance, government, and medical paperwork, such as that required by Medicare or Medicaid, SSDI, or SSI

· Planning long-term financial arrangements

The Cost of Lifetime Living Assistance

When disability is caused by another person’s negligence, as in an auto accident, a premises liability accident, or medical malpractice, a personal injury attorney can argue your case to a judge and jury and obtain damages that will cover the cost of lifetime living assistance, if that is necessary.