how does a lawyer determine future medical bills in a slip and fall

by Cristobal Wilderman 7 min read

Your attorney will use the additional expense method to calculate your future medical expenses if you are facing temporary medical expenses but will eventually recover your former lifestyle. The attorney will itemize each additional expenditure to come up with a total claim for future medical expenses.

Full Answer

Do I have a right to compensation for a slip and fall?

For some people, a slip and fall injury leaves a few bruises and only causes them to miss a few hours of work. For others, it can be so catastrophic that the injury victim and their family never completely recover. Regardless of how much your life has been affected by your slip and fall injury, you have the right to compensation.

How are slip and fall injuries evaluated?

One of the most important factors in evaluating a slip and fall injury is exactly where the injury is located on your body. A broken arm can be painful and debilitating. But there is no question that a head injury is usually more serious and life-threatening.

What is slip and fall claim?

Slip and fall or trip and fall is any incident where a person gets injured due to another party’s negligence. The compensation could be less if the injury happened at the victim’s fault. Slip and fall incidents can happen anywhere, residential buildings or business properties.

What happens after a slip and fall accident?

Slip and fall injuries can result in the accumulation of thousands of dollars of medical bills. The medical bills may result from emergency room visits, doctor visits, physical therapy, diagnostic testing and, in some cases, surgery.

How are future medical expenses calculated?

How Do I Determine Future Expenses?Multiplying damages. Multiply the total of your special damages by a number. This number could be 1.5 up to 5, depending on a number of factors.Per diem. The per diem, or daily rate, is another option.

What is future medical care?

Future medical care means medical treatment as defined in Labor Code section 4600 that is reasonably required to cure or relieve an injured worker of the effects of the industrial injury after an injured worker has reached maximum medical improvement or permanent and stationary status including a description of the ...

What is future medical compensation?

Workers' Compensation Future Medical Care “Buyouts” – A workers compensation “buyout” occurs when the workers' compensation insurance company wants to offer you a settlement of your case for a “lump sum” of money – rather than paying for your “future medical care.”

What is a medical buyout?

A Workers' Compensation medical “buyout” happens when a Workers' Compensation insurance carrier offers to give you a lump sum of money to settle your case.

What Are Future Medical Expenses?

Future medical expenses are one component of a personal injury claim for compensation. Not all personal injury victims require compensation for future medical expenses. Victims who have reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) by the time their claim is resolved may or may not need compensation for future medical expenses.

Examples of Future Medical Expenditures

Future medical expenses can include many different expenditures, including:

How to Prove Future Medical Costs

Most personal injury cases are resolved through settlement. Your best chance of avoiding a trial is to prepare to win there. Following is a description of some of the main methods of proving future medical expenses, both at trial and during settlement negotiations.

Calculating Future Medical Expenses

A skilled and experienced medical malpractice lawyer will know how to estimate future medical expenses. A lot depends on the details of your condition. Following is a description of two of the most common methods of calculating future medical expenses.

Why do people have med pay insurance?

Anyone who owns a property or business knows that it’s challenging to own and operate a premise that is entirely safe and injury-free. That’s why many owners carry med pay insurance. This insurance protects the property owner by paying a certain amount towards an injured party’s medical bills, up to a certain amount.

Do insurance companies expect payment if you don't have health insurance?

However, you should know that insurance companies will also expect payment if there is a monetary settlement in your case. And if you do not have health insurance, you are financially responsible for other associated costs of care and medical attention.

Who pays your medical bills after a slip and fall?

Who pays your medical bills after a slip and fall? While slip-and-fall accidents in Pennsylvania happen fairly often and may result in minor injuries such as strains or sprains, some people suffer serious injuries that can cost thousands of dollars in medical expenses.

Medical insurance and other important considerations

If the property owner asks for you to sign a document that could affect your future ability to file a claim in exchange for paying for your medical bills, do not do it.

Recovering damages in a slip-and-fall accident claim

The amount of money that you might recover in a slip-and-fall accident claim will depend on several factors, including the severity of your injuries, your likelihood of recovery, and whether you contributed to the cause of your accident.

Get help from DiCindio Law

Following a slip-and-fall accident in which you were injured, you might find yourself overwhelmed by unmanageable medical bills. Getting help from an experienced injury lawyer at DiCindio Law might allow you to figure out how to pay for your medical costs.

What is the most important factor in evaluating a slip and fall injury?

One of the most important factors in evaluating a slip and fall injury is exactly where the injury is located on your body.

What happens if you land on your back after a slip and fall?

2. Back Injuries. If you land on your back after a slip and fall, you can suffer a wide variety of complications. A fracture on the bones in your spinal column can be both painful and expensive to treat.

How much does a wrist surgery cost?

Wrist injuries can be even more expensive to treat, with surgeries costing between $7,000 and $18,000 on top of non-surgical costs. Post-surgery therapy can further run up the bills. In one case, a police officer slipped and fell on municipal property.

What to do if you have a slip and fall accident?

If you or a loved one has been injured in a slip and fall accident, it is important to act as soon as possible to preserve your claim. Once you have done that, use caution and take your time when negotiating a personal injury settlement. Qualified personal injury attorneys can help you with the process.

What to consider when evaluating a slip and fall claim?

As you and your personal injury lawyer evaluate your slip and fall claim, consider that past lawsuit verdicts, the cost of treatment, and your related damages are not the only considerations affecting the value of the case and your settlement .

What happens when you throw your hands out?

1. Arm, Wrist, and Hand Injuries. Slip or trip and fall accidents often result in injuries to your arms, wrists and hands. This can happen when you throw your hands out to try and catch yourself as you fall. Whatever the mechanics of the injury, it’s painful.

Where was the slip and fall case?

In one slip and fall case in Marion County, Florida, a woman slipped and fell on a wet floor in a supermarket. The woman had to have back surgery to address a slipped disc. The supermarket refused to settle the case, and there was a verdict of over $200,000.

How to contact Dan Newlin Injury Attorneys?

Call Dan Newlin Injury Attorneys today at 800-257-1822. You will be glad you did.

What happens if you don't have health insurance?

If you do not have health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, the medical bills will remain your responsibility until either a settlement is reached or you have a successful verdict in court. In that event, you have the obligation to pay for these medical bills when due.

Does Medicare cover slip and fall injuries?

If the owner of the property you sustain your injury in does not assist you with your initial medical bills and you have health insurance, Medicare or Medicaid, your bills may be covered by one of those insurance carriers. However, it is important for you to understand that most health insurance carriers, including Medicare and Medicaid, will look to be compensated for any medical treatment they any pay for your slip and fall injury in the event you receive a monetary settlement for your injury.

Does medical insurance cover initial medical bills?

Since this is such a low burden of proof, medical payment coverage tends to be very limited and will typically only cover initial medical bills.

Can you have an injury free premises?

Businesses and insurance companies are often aware that it is impossible to have injury-free premises. For that reason, many of them carry insurance coverage that provides coverage to pay medical bills, up to a certain amount, regardless as to whether or not the property owner was at fault for the injury. This coverage is commonly known as medical ...

Is medical insurance mandatory?

This coverage is commonly known as medical payments coverage, and is not mandatory coverage but is often found in both commercial and homeowners policies, and is a “goodwill” feature to ensure injured people are able to get needed medical care.

Does a property owner have to pay medical bills?

In the event that a property owner offers to pay your medical bills, that payment, in and of itself, is not an admission of liability of fault on the part of the property owner, and will not affect any right to bring any future claim for injury.

What is the advantage of inflated medical bills?

The advantage of these inflated costs (if you can call it that) is that there is some room for negotiation in your medical bills.

What is balance billing?

Balance billing occurs when a health care provider charges a patient for the difference between what insurance covers and the overall cost of the bill.

What happens if a personal injury case is pending?

Unfortunately, while your case is still pending, you might receive nagging calls from the hospital’s billing department, which eventually files a lien against you for payment. If a lien against you exists, your attorney will likely have to negotiate with the hospital to lower your medical bills while your personal injury case is still pending.

How can a personal injury attorney help you?

A personal injury attorney can be a valuable ally in several ways – first, they help determine who is fault for your injuries and help hold the responsible parties accountable. Second, they help ease your financial burden by making sure that the negligent party pays for the full amount of your medical bills – and part of this is negotiating your ...

Why do hospitals inflate their prices?

What most people don’t realize, however, is that many of these costs are inflated because insurance companies typically cover only a fraction of what a hospital charges. As a result, hospitals inflate their prices, so insurance companies will pay more on a claim, and the cycle continues. Unfortunately, this just creates premium increases and the extra costs are passed on to the consumer.

What is the burden of proof for a hospital in California?

If your attorney thinks that a cost is unreasonable, then the burden of the proof is on the hospital to provide enough evidence that your medical bill costs are indeed reasonable.

Can you negotiate medical bills?

Yes, You Can Negotiate Your Medical Bills. Most people who receive care at hospitals have experienced the sticker shock of getting the final bill. Consider the following average costs: Even after insurance coverage, families end up owing thousands of dollars for simple and even routine medical procedures.