In the development of a Life Care Plan, determining projected lifespan is a foundational and legally significant step. Accurately estimating the duration of future care is essential for calculating damages, evaluating settlement value, and supporting expert opinions in litigation. A life care planner must therefore rely on recognized, authoritative sources when establishing an individual’s average remaining years of life, commonly referred to as life expectancy (LE).

Reliance on U.S. Life Tables

In medical-legal contexts, life expectancy is most commonly derived from the U.S. Life Tables published by the National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) through the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These tables constitute the federal government’s official mortality and longevity statistics for the United States.

The U.S. Life Tables analyze age- and sex-specific mortality rates for a given year and provide an actuarial estimate of the average number of additional years an individual is expected to live. Because these tables are based on large, nationally representative datasets and are updated regularly, they are widely regarded as the baseline standard for life expectancy determinations in personal injury, medical malpractice, and catastrophic injury litigation.

Their acceptance within the legal system is well established:

• Jury Instructions: The use of U.S. Life Tables is explicitly recognized in standard jury instructions across numerous jurisdictions, including California Civil Jury Instruction (CACI) 3932 and New York Pattern Jury Instruction (PJI) 2:281, as an appropriate reference for determining life expectancy.
• Expert Consensus: Surveys conducted by the National Association of Forensic Economics (NAFE) consistently identify the U.S. Life Tables as the most frequently relied-upon resource for economic damages and life expectancy valuations in litigation.

Professional Standards and Scope of Practice

Life care planners are required to account for life expectancy when projecting future medical and non-medical needs; however, professional standards recognize that individualized life expectancy determinations may fall outside the scope of practice unless the planner possesses specialized qualifications.

As noted by Dr. Garson Caruso, a published authority in life care planning:

“Accurate life expectancy determination is a crucial facet of both qualitative and quantitative life care planning (Day et al., 2015b). However, life care planners do not routinely perform life expectancy determination unless they are specifically qualified to do so. Many rely upon standard life tables such as those published by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics (Arias & Xu, 2019), without adjustment, for baseline values, and defer more precise opinions on life expectancy to other experts such as biostatisticians, epidemiologists, and forensic economists.”

This approach is consistent with accepted medico-legal methodology and supports the admissibility and credibility of expert opinions.

Dawn Cook’s Methodology

In matters where a separate Life Expectancy Expert Report is not provided, Dawn Cook relies on the most current U.S. Life Tables issued by the National Vital Statistics System, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC. This ensures that the duration of care projected within each Life Care Plan is grounded in objective, authoritative, and judicially recognized data.

By adhering to nationally accepted statistical standards and clearly defining the basis for life expectancy assumptions, Dawn Cook’s Life Care Plans provide attorneys with defensible, transparent, and methodologically sound analyses suitable for litigation, settlement negotiations, and trial testimony.

References

Arias, E., & Xu, J. (2019). United States Life Tables. National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Day, S. M., et al. (2015b). Life Care Planning and Case Management Handbook. CRC Press.

California Civil Jury Instructions (CACI) No. 3932 – Life Expectancy.

New York Pattern Jury Instructions (PJI) 2:281 – Life Expectancy.

National Association of Forensic Economics (NAFE). Survey of Forensic Economics Practices.