Life care plans authored by surgeons.
Comprehensive, litigation-ready life care plans for catastrophic injury, medical malpractice, and complex cases — prepared and signed by board-certified surgeons who are Certified Life Care Planners.
What is a life care plan?
A life care plan is a comprehensive, evidence-based document that identifies every category of future medical and supportive care an injured person will need over their lifetime — surgeries and revisions, physician follow-up, medications, therapies, durable medical equipment, attendant care, home modifications — and projects the cost of each item using documented sources.
In litigation, the life care plan is the foundation of future medical damages. At mediation and trial, it is the document opposing counsel attacks and jurors weigh. Its value rises or falls with two things: the rigor of its methodology, and the credential of the expert defending it.
That second factor is where Surgent LCP is different.
Why surgeon authorship matters
Most life care plans in the United States are prepared by nurse or rehabilitation-counselor planners. Their work can be thorough — but under cross-examination, scope of practice becomes the vulnerability: a non-physician planner cannot independently recommend future medical treatment. They rely on someone else's medical opinions, and defense counsel knows it.
A board-certified surgeon who is also a Certified Life Care Planner closes that gap. The expert who projects the future surgical revisions is the same expert who performs those surgeries in practice — and can testify, from clinical authority, why each recommendation is medically necessary.
For plaintiff counsel, that means a plan that holds under attack. For defense counsel, it means a rebuttal expert who can state — as a physician — that a claimed treatment is not medically indicated.
"Only a physician can independently recommend — and defend — future medical treatment."
The scope-of-practice distinction that decides credibility contests between competing life care plans.
Medical record review and clinical assessment
Future care recommendations by category
Evidence-based cost research with cited sources
Surgeon certification and signature
Deposition and trial testimony support
When a case needs a life care plan
A life care plan earns its cost when future care is a significant component of damages. Typical triggers:
Catastrophic injury — traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, amputation, severe burns, birth injury — where lifetime care spans decades.
Medical malpractice with permanent deficits requiring ongoing treatment.
Any case where future surgical revisions, hardware replacement, or escalating care needs will be contested.
Defense engagements: rebutting an opposing life care plan whose recommendations or costs overreach the medical evidence.
For earlier-stage or non-catastrophic cases, an abbreviated medical cost projection may fit better — we'll tell you which your case needs, honestly, before any engagement.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a life care plan cost?
Published industry figures place most life care plans between $2,500 and $10,000, driven by case complexity: number of body systems involved, volume of records, and whether testimony is required. Catastrophic multi-system injuries sit at the top of that range and above. We quote a fixed scope after a no-cost case review — there is no charge to inquire.
How long does preparation take?
The industry standard is four to six weeks, reflecting 30–50 hours of record review, clinical assessment, cost research, and drafting. Our surgeon-led process is built for speed without shortcuts — bring us your expert-disclosure deadline and we'll confirm feasibility before you commit.
Who can write a life care plan?
Certified Life Care Planners come from nursing, rehabilitation counseling, and medicine. All can assemble a plan; the difference emerges under oath. A non-physician planner must borrow their treatment recommendations from treating doctors or retained physicians. A surgeon-planner recommends, costs, and defends the treatment plan on their own authority.
Life care plan or medical cost projection?
A medical cost projection is the abbreviated, records-only version — faster and less expensive, suited to demand letters, mediation, and non-catastrophic cases. A life care plan is comprehensive and litigation-grade, built to survive deposition and trial. Severity, case value, and procedural posture decide; we advise on the right fit as part of every intake.
Do you work for plaintiff or defense?
Both. We prepare original plans for plaintiff counsel and physician-level rebuttals of opposing plans for defense counsel and insurers. The medical evidence drives every opinion — which is exactly what makes them defensible.
Discuss your case with a surgeon-planner
Response within one business day. No retainer to inquire.