After an amputation, your medical care often continues long after surgery. A prosthesis can help you work and handle daily tasks. However, as your body changes or the device wears down, you might require adjustments or a replacement.
If another party bears legal responsibility for your injury, Florida law allows you to seek damages for reasonable and necessary medical care you will receive later. Future prosthetic care can fall within those damages. You generally have to show with reasonable certainty that you will incur the expense, rather than show only a possible future need.
Why prosthetic expenses may continue
Your prosthetic needs might change as you recover. Changes in your residual limb may affect how the device fits or works. Daily use also wears down parts of the prosthesis, so your medical team might recommend an adjustment or replacement later.
These expenses differ from bills you already have. Florida law allows recovery for reasonable and necessary future medical treatment. Evidence that explains why you will require more prosthetic care helps connect those later expenses to your amputation.
What can support the amount you claim
Your medical records can explain what prosthesis you use now and what care your medical team expects later. A treatment plan may also show when you expect to need another fitting or device. Together, those records help establish the future medical need.
Florida law also controls what evidence you may use to show the amount of future medical expenses. Your health coverage might affect which amounts you can present. The law also allows other evidence of reasonable future charges for medically necessary care.
Keeping records of long-term care
Future prosthetic care could account for a meaningful part of your losses after an amputation. You may want to keep records that explain your expected treatment and future device needs. Reviewing them as part of your accident-related claim can help you check whether the claim accounts for care you are reasonably certain to require.