Calculating Future Medical Expenses in Arizona Survival Actions

TL;DR

In an Arizona survival action, future medical expenses are calculated by projecting the necessary medical care the deceased would have required for their injuries had they lived. This calculation relies on expert testimony from life care planners and medical specialists who create a detailed plan outlining every anticipated medical need. An economist then determines the total future cost of this plan, adjusting for medical inflation and reducing it to its present-day value to arrive at the final, legally defensible figure presented in court.

Key Highlights

Survival Action Purpose: Allows the deceased’s estate to recover damages the individual could have claimed if they had survived, as permitted by Arizona law.
Expense Scope: Future medical expenses cover all anticipated care, including surgeries, therapies, medications, in-home assistance, and assistive devices.
Life Care Plan: This is the core document, created by a certified expert, that itemizes all future medical needs and their associated costs.
Expert Validation: Medical experts, such as treating physicians, must testify that the care detailed in the plan is medically necessary.
Economic Analysis: A forensic economist calculates the total lifetime cost, applies a medical inflation rate, and then discounts the final amount to its “present value.”
Legal Basis: This process is rooted in Arizona Revised Statutes, specifically A.R.S. § 14-3110, which governs the survival of legal actions after a person’s death.

When a person in Arizona suffers a catastrophic injury due to another’s negligence and later passes away from those injuries, the legal system provides two distinct avenues for seeking justice: a wrongful death claim and a survival action. While often pursued together, they serve different purposes. A wrongful death claim compensates surviving family members for their personal losses. A survival action, governed by A.R.S. § 14-3110, functions differently. It allows the deceased person’s legal claim to “survive” their death, enabling their estate to recover the damages the person themselves would have been entitled to had they lived.

These damages include medical bills incurred before death, lost wages, and the pain and suffering the individual endured. A significant and often complex component of these damages is the cost of future medical care. This concept can seem counterintuitive; how can you claim future expenses for someone who is no longer alive? The legal principle is that the defendant’s wrongful act created a need for a lifetime of medical care. The fact that the person died does not erase the financial liability for that care. The estate, therefore, has the right to recover the full value of that required future care.

Calculating these future medical costs is not a matter of guesswork. It is a meticulous, evidence-based process that requires a team of specialized experts. This process involves projecting a lifetime of medical needs, assigning accurate costs to those needs, and using sophisticated economic formulas to present a final figure to a judge or jury. The objective is to demonstrate, with a reasonable degree of certainty, the full financial burden of the medical treatment the victim would have faced for the remainder of their natural life if the fatal injury had not ended prematurely.

Understanding the Foundation: Arizona Survival Actions vs. Wrongful Death Claims

To properly assess future medical damages, one must first understand the legal vehicle used to claim them. In Arizona, a survival action is fundamentally different from a wrongful death claim, and this distinction is critical when it comes to the types of compensation available.

The Purpose of a Survival Action (A.R.S. § 14-3110)

The Arizona survival statute, A.R.S. § 14-3110, states that “Every cause of action… shall survive the death of the person entitled thereto or liable therefor.” In simple terms, this law prevents a personal injury claim from being extinguished just because the injured person has died. The claim becomes an asset of the deceased person’s estate.

The personal representative of the estate (the executor or administrator) steps into the shoes of the deceased and continues the lawsuit on their behalf. The damages recovered in a survival action are paid directly to the estate. From there, the funds are used to pay any outstanding debts of the estate, and the remainder is distributed to the heirs as specified in the person’s will or according to Arizona’s laws of intestacy if there is no will.

Key Differences from a Wrongful Death Claim (A.R.S. § 12-611)

A wrongful death claim, established under A.R.S. § 12-611, is a separate and distinct action. It is not brought on behalf of the deceased’s estate but rather by and for the direct benefit of specific surviving family members, such as a spouse, children, or parents. This type of claim seeks compensation for the losses the survivors have personally suffered because of their loved one’s death.

Here is a simple breakdown of the differences:

Feature	Survival Action (A.R.S. § 14-3110)	Wrongful Death Claim (A.R.S. § 12-611)
Who Brings the Claim?	The personal representative of the estate.	A surviving spouse, child, parent, or guardian.
Who Receives the Money?	The deceased’s estate.	The surviving family members directly.
What is Being Compensated?	The losses suffered by the deceased person.	The losses suffered by the surviving family.
Types of Damages	Pain and suffering (before death), medical bills (past and future), lost wages (before death).	Loss of love and companionship, grief and sorrow, lost financial support, loss of household services.

Why This Distinction Matters for Medical Expenses

Future medical expenses are a form of damage that the deceased person would have incurred personally if they had lived with their injuries. Therefore, these costs are recoverable only through a survival action. They represent a financial liability created by the defendant’s negligence against the victim. A wrongful death claim does not include these damages because they are not a direct loss to the surviving family members in the same way that lost financial support is. Recognizing this legal separation is the first step in building a case to recover the full value of a lifetime of projected medical care.

Identifying Recoverable Future Medical Costs

When calculating future medical expenses, the goal is to create a comprehensive list of every reasonably necessary medical service, product, and accommodation the person would have needed for the rest of their life. This goes far beyond just hospital stays and surgeries. It encompasses all aspects of managing a severe, long-term injury.

The types of recoverable future medical costs can be extensive and are tailored to the specific injuries sustained. Common categories include:

Future Surgeries and Procedures: This could involve operations to repair damaged tissue, replace joints, install or revise medical hardware like plates and screws, or manage chronic complications.
Physician and Specialist Visits: Ongoing consultations with specialists are often necessary. This includes follow-up appointments with neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, pulmonologists, pain management doctors, and rehabilitation specialists.
Rehabilitative Therapies: A cornerstone of recovery and management for catastrophic injuries. This category includes:
- Physical Therapy: To maintain or improve mobility, strength, and function.
- Occupational Therapy: To help with activities of daily living, such as dressing, eating, and personal hygiene.
- Speech Therapy: For individuals with traumatic brain injuries or other conditions affecting communication or swallowing.
Prescription Medications: Long-term medication regimens are common for managing chronic pain, preventing infections, controlling seizures, or treating other secondary conditions resulting from the initial injury.
Medical Equipment and Assistive Devices: This is a broad category that can include wheelchairs (manual and powered), prosthetics, hospital beds for home use, patient lifts, custom braces, communication devices, and modifications to a vehicle.
In-Home Care and Attendant Services: Many individuals with severe injuries would have required assistance at home. This can range from a few hours of help per day with housekeeping and meal preparation to 24/7 skilled nursing care for tasks like wound care, medication administration, and ventilator management.
Diagnostic Testing: Ongoing monitoring of the person’s condition would require periodic tests like MRIs, CT scans, X-rays, and blood work to track progress and detect complications.
Mental Health Services: The psychological impact of a life-altering injury is significant. The calculation can include costs for future counseling, therapy, or psychiatric care to treat conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety.

For example, consider a person who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). Their future medical needs would not just be initial hospitalization. They would likely include lifelong cognitive rehabilitation, anti-seizure medication, regular neurologist appointments, potential placement in a supported living facility, and specialized equipment to ensure their safety. Each of these items has a specific cost that must be identified and projected over their expected lifespan.

The Role of the Life Care Planner: Creating the Medical Blueprint

The central figure in establishing future medical costs is the life care planner. This is a highly trained expert, often a certified registered nurse, rehabilitation counselor, or physician, who specializes in assessing the long-term needs of individuals with catastrophic injuries. Their job is to create a comprehensive document known as a life care plan.

What is a Life Care Plan?

A life care plan is a detailed, dynamic, and organized document that serves as a blueprint for an individual’s future medical and non-medical needs. It is based on a thorough review of medical records, collaboration with treating physicians, and established standards of care within the medical community. The plan provides an itemized list of every anticipated need, its frequency, and its cost over the person’s projected lifetime. It is the foundational evidence used to prove the value of future medical damages in court.

The Process of Developing the Plan

Creating a legally defensible life care plan is a systematic process. A qualified planner does not simply invent a list of needs. They follow a rigorous methodology to ensure the plan is both accurate and credible.

Comprehensive Record Review: The planner begins by obtaining and meticulously reviewing all relevant medical records. This includes everything from the initial paramedic reports and emergency room charts to hospital admission notes, surgical reports, therapy evaluations, and discharge summaries.
Collaboration with Treating Physicians: The life care planner will consult with the doctors who treated the deceased before their death. They discuss the patient’s prognosis, the expected course of their condition had they lived, and the types of treatments, therapies, and medications that would have been necessary. This step is crucial for establishing that the items in the plan are medically necessary.
Research and Cost Analysis: For each item in the plan, the planner conducts thorough research to determine its cost in the relevant geographic area. The cost of a physical therapy session in Phoenix, for example, may differ from the cost in a rural part of Arizona. They use vendor catalogs, healthcare billing codes, and direct contact with local providers to get accurate, current pricing.
Drafting the Report: The final product is a detailed report that outlines each need, its justification, the recommended frequency (e.g., physical therapy three times per week), the duration (e.g., for life), and the cost per unit and per year. The plan projects these costs year by year for the remainder of the individual’s pre-injury life expectancy.

The life care plan must be reasonable and based on medical certainty. It cannot include speculative or experimental treatments. Every item must be directly linked to the injuries caused by the defendant’s negligence and supported by the medical evidence.

Securing the Evidence: The Importance of Expert Testimony

A life care plan, no matter how detailed, is just a document. To be used as evidence in a survival action, its contents must be validated and explained to the court through the testimony of expert witnesses. This typically involves testimony from both medical experts and the life care planner who authored the report.

The Medical Expert’s Testimony

The testimony of one or more of the deceased’s treating physicians is essential. A medical expert, such as an orthopedic surgeon or a neurologist, provides the medical foundation for the entire claim. Their testimony typically establishes several key points:

Causation: The doctor will testify that the defendant’s negligent act was the direct cause of the specific injuries the person suffered.
Prognosis: The expert will explain the long-term consequences of those injuries and the medical course the person would have followed had they survived.
Medical Necessity: This is the most critical part of their testimony regarding future care. The physician must state, to a “reasonable degree of medical probability,” that the treatments, therapies, medications, and other items listed in the life care plan are medically necessary for the management of the person’s condition.

This testimony transforms the life care plan from a list of suggestions into a medically endorsed prescription for care, giving it significant weight in a legal setting.

The Life Care Planner’s Testimony

The life care planner also testifies as an expert witness. Their role is to explain their work to the judge and jury. During their testimony, the planner will:

Establish Their Credentials: They will detail their education, training, certifications, and experience in the field of life care planning.
Explain Their Methodology: They will walk the court through the process they used to create the plan, including the records they reviewed and the physicians they consulted.
Justify Each Item: The planner will go through the plan line by line, explaining why each item is necessary and how they determined its cost. They will show that the costs are reasonable and customary for the Arizona market.
Defend the Plan: The defense attorney will cross-examine the life care planner, attempting to find weaknesses in the plan. They may argue that certain items are not necessary, that cheaper alternatives are available, or that the costs are inflated. The planner must be prepared to defend their conclusions with evidence and professional expertise.

Together, the testimony of the medical experts and the life care planner creates a powerful and persuasive case for the full value of the future medical damages.

The Economic Calculation: Turning a Plan into a Dollar Amount

Once the life care plan is established and validated, the final step is to translate it into a single lump-sum dollar amount that can be awarded to the estate. This complex financial calculation is performed by another expert witness: a forensic economist. The economist’s job is to take the raw data from the life care plan and apply economic principles to arrive at a final, present-day value.

Projecting Costs Over a Lifetime

The economist begins with the annual costs outlined in the life care plan. They then need to determine the timeframe over which these costs would have been incurred. This is based on the deceased person’s pre-injury life expectancy. The economist uses statistical data from sources like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Social Security Administration, which provide life tables based on age, gender, and other factors. They will also consider the individual’s specific health history prior to the injury. The total cost is then projected across this entire lifespan.

Accounting for Medical Inflation

It is a well-documented fact that the cost of medical care rises at a much faster rate than general inflation. A simple calculation based on today’s prices would severely undercompensate the estate because it fails to account for these future price increases. The forensic economist will apply a specific medical inflation rate to the future costs. This rate is based on historical data and economic forecasting to ensure that the final award will be sufficient to cover the rising costs of healthcare years or even decades from now.

The Concept of Present Value

In a lawsuit, damages are awarded as a single lump sum today, not as a series of payments over many years. Because a large sum of money received today can be invested to earn interest, the law requires that the total future cost be “discounted” to its present value. This prevents the estate from receiving a windfall.

The forensic economist performs this calculation. They use a specific discount rate, which is essentially an estimated rate of return on a safe investment, to determine what amount of money, if received today and invested wisely, would be sufficient to pay for all the expenses outlined in the life care plan as they become due over the person’s lifetime. The formula is complex, but the principle is simple: it finds the present-day equivalent of a future stream of expenses. The final number produced by the economist is the amount the attorney will ask the jury to award for future medical expenses.

Common Challenges and Defense Strategies in Arizona Cases

In any high-stakes survival action, the defendant’s insurance company and their arizona wrongful death attorneys will not simply accept the plaintiff’s calculation of future medical damages. They will employ their own experts and use several common strategies to challenge the claim and reduce the potential payout.

Contesting Medical Necessity

The most frequent defense strategy is to attack the life care plan itself. The defense will hire its own medical experts and a life care planner to review the plaintiff’s plan. They will look for any items they can argue are not medically necessary. For example, they might claim that 24-hour in-home care is excessive and that 12 hours would suffice, or that a less expensive model of a wheelchair is adequate. They will try to portray the plaintiff’s plan as exaggerated or filled with “luxury” items rather than necessities.

Arguing Over Life Expectancy

Life expectancy is often a major point of contention. The plaintiff’s experts will argue for using the person’s pre-injury life expectancy, asserting that the defendant should be held responsible for the full lifespan they cut short. The defense, however, will often argue that the severe injuries themselves would have reduced the person’s life expectancy, even if they had not been immediately fatal. By arguing for a shorter lifespan, they seek to reduce the number of years for which future medical costs must be calculated, thereby lowering the total amount.

Disputing Economic Assumptions

The numbers used by the forensic economist are another prime target. Defense economists will challenge the assumptions made by the plaintiff’s expert. They may argue for a lower medical inflation rate or a higher discount rate. Even a small change of a single percentage point in these rates can have a massive impact on the final present value calculation, potentially altering the award by hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars.

The “Failure to Mitigate” Argument

In some cases, a defense might argue that the injured person, prior to their death, failed to “mitigate” their damages. This means they did not follow medical advice or take reasonable steps to care for their injuries, which in turn increased their future medical needs. For instance, if a doctor recommended a certain therapy and the patient refused, the defense could argue they are not responsible for the costs of complications that arose from that refusal. This is a more difficult argument to make in a survival action but remains a potential defense tactic.

Conclusion

Calculating future medical expenses in an Arizona survival action is a sophisticated and evidence-intensive undertaking. It moves far beyond simply adding up bills. It is a forward-looking projection designed to quantify the full scope of medical care that was made necessary by a negligent act. The process requires the seamless collaboration of legal, medical, and economic professionals to build a case that is both compelling and legally sound.

The foundation of the claim rests on the clear distinction between a survival action and a wrongful death claim, with future medical costs being a unique component of the former. From there, a life care planner meticulously constructs a detailed blueprint of all anticipated needs. This plan is then brought to life through the crucial testimony of medical experts who confirm its necessity and an economist who translates it into a precise, present-day monetary value. Each step is critical in ensuring that the deceased person’s estate is justly compensated for the lifetime of care that was stolen from them.

Because of the complexities involved and the aggressive defense strategies that are certain to be employed, pursuing these damages requires significant resources and expertise. The stakes are high, and the calculations must be able to withstand intense scrutiny in a courtroom.

If your family is dealing with the loss of a loved one and must consider a survival action, understanding the full value of the claim is paramount. The process of calculating future medical damages is a vital part of securing the justice and compensation the estate deserves. Contact our firm for a confidential and thorough case evaluation to discuss the specifics of your Arizona survival action and learn how we can help. Contact us for free evaluation today.