Life Care Plan

A spinal cord injury causes a lifetime of challenges - medical, emotional, and vocational.  These concerns can be addressed in a Life Care Plan, and the California attorneys at Bohn & Bohn, LLP work with professionals from many fields to develop a Plan which can guide a person through difficult periods, as well as substantiate a claim for damages in a personal injury lawsuit.

Our webpage on Life Care Plans for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) explains what a Life Care Plan is and why you need one.  Although people with SCI have different needs than people with TBI, the basic reasons why one needs a Life Care Plan are equally applicable.

The person with SCI will likely encounter special needs in the following major categories, which can be addressed in a Life Care Plan:

• Healthcare - People with paralysis are prone to bedsores and urinary tract infections (particularly when catheterization is present), and due to the loss of feeling, these infections can be extremely difficult to overcome.  Other serious complications include organ failure, including the heart, lungs, and kidneys.  Regular visits to one's primary doctor, as well as specialists such as urologists and pulmonologists, will likely be necessary to prevent and treat such occurrences.  Ongoing physical therapy, medications, and related consumables (catheters, wound care) would also be included here.
• Housing - If the person is required to reside in an assisted living facility in order to receive the proper care, that cost should be included in the Life Care Plan.  Even if the person is able to live at home, remodeling and adaptive equipment will likely be required, from widening doorways and installing wheelchair ramps, to special "hospital" beds and motorized chair lifts.
• Mobility - Wheelchairs will be required for mobility in most instances, either manual for most paraplegics, or motorized for quadriplegics who require assistance to propel themselves.  Adaptive modes of transportation will also required, such as handicap-accessible vans or cars fitted with hand-operated gas and brake levers.
• Life Skills - Ongoing psychological counseling and occupational therapy is commonly needed to help an individual deal with the pressures of living with a disability, coping with new challenges, and learning adaptive strategies to perform tasks.

The Life Care Plan outlines in great detail all of these needs and more, and wherever applicable affixes a cost to them.  In addition, the Plan should identify resources that the individual, family, and healthcare workers can access to implement the Plan. 

From our office in San Jose, the lawyers at Bohn & Bohn work statewide to help victims of spinal cord injury recover from the negligence which caused their injury, whether it was due to an automobile accident, a case of products liability or premises liability, or some other form of wrongful conduct.  If you have been injured due to the fault of another, contact Bohn & Bohn, LLP today for a free consultation regarding your claim.