Pediatric Case Evaluation

Using peer-reviewed and published methodologies, VDI can address:

1. Future Care Needs/Life Care Plan;
2. Earning Capacity Evaluation

Those with pediatric birth injuries may require life-long medical and non-medical care and services to function at their maximum potential in the least restrictive environment. This is the definition of “rehabilitation.” A Life Care Plan will capture those needs as well as the costs related thereto. VDI life care planning experts are highly qualified and able to develop Life Care Plans involving injuries that include, but are not limited to: anoxic brain injury, cerebral palsy, other neurological injuries, orthopedic injuries such as brachial plexus injuries, amputation, vision and hearing loss, etc. Children not injured at birth also unfortunately sustain injuries. VDI experts are able to develop life care plans for children and adolescents who have also sustained injuries due to trauma.

An often-overlooked element of damages in the pediatric injury case is the impact of the injury on the child’s future ability to work and earn wages. VDI vocational experts use the PEEDS-RAPEL© methodology to do this evaluation. Only a qualified rehabilitation counselor familiar with this methodology has the ability to do this evaluation. Forensic economists are sometimes identified by attorneys to do this; however, since the methodology used by VDI vocational experts to evaluate earning capacity requires application of skills obtained from specialized training that a forensic economist will not have, this evaluation should only be performed by a qualified vocational rehabilitation expert. The forensic economist can then perform the economic calculations considering data provided to them by the vocational rehabilitation expert.

Taylor, Robert H., “The Vocational/Rehabilitation Expert,” The Plaintiff and Defense Attorney’s Guide to Understanding Economic Damages, Brookshire, Slesnick and Ward, editors (Tucson: Lawyers and Judges Publishing Company, Inc., 2007), pp 57-71.