Life Care Planning for the Defense Attorney
It is important for all life care planners to understand the difficulties that may be faced when asked to prepare a case for the defense. Please read Chapter 25: “A Defense Attorney’s Perspective on Life Care Planning” in your Life Care Planning and Case Management Handbook.
What are some of the issues a life care planner may face when preparing a case for the defense?
- Due to patient-physician privileges, the life care planner may not be able to meet with the client or the client may refuse to meet with defense-retained experts. In these situations, a defense team must be compiled in order to assure the complete foundation for your defense life care plan.
What are some of the ways that a life care planner can help a defense attorney prepare for a case?
- In the early preparation of the case, the life care planner can act as a consulting expert hired only to consult on the case, not to testify. The life care planner can then help the defense attorney prepare a list of medical records that should be reviewed and aid in the identification of individuals who should be deposed in order to make determinations vital to the person’s life care needs.
- The life care planner can also assist the defense counsel by providing a comparison of the plaintiff’s life care plan to the defense’s life care plan. Life care planners should take care when preparing this rebuttal and always act in a professional manner.
Tracy Raffles Gunn. (2009). “A Defense Attorney’s Perspective on Life Care Planning”. In Roger Weed, Debra Berens Life Care Planning and Case Management Handbook. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.
