Maximizing Compensation for Long-Term Care with an Attorney

Recovering from a serious accident often means facing months or even years of ongoing medical and rehabilitative care, and the nature, duration, and costs of this long-term treatment play a crucial role in determining the settlement value of a personal injury claim. Serious injuries don’t resolve quickly, and when care stretches into months or years, settlement value usually rises. However, insurance companies and their lawyers will do everything possible to minimize or even try to deny claims, get you to settle for less than your case is worth, or trick you into saying something that makes it seem that the accident was your fault, so you shouldn’t attempt to reach a fair settlement on your own.

Long-term injuries take a tremendous toll on victims, both financially and emotionally. While no amount of money can fully compensate for the suffering involved, a financial settlement can take away your monetary worries and make it easier for you and your family to rebuild your lives. If you or a loved one was injured in an accident due to another party’s negligence or fault and you are facing long-term medical treatment, get help from a skilled personal injury attorney who know how to handle these cases and can take the burden off you and fight for the optimum compensation you deserve.

What Compensation Can You Win in an Injury Case?

In a successful personal injury case, you may receive a compensation award called damages for the injuries and losses you received from the accident that injured you. The amount you receive should cover both your economic monetary expenses from the accident and your non-economic damages that don’t have a specific monetary value, but negatively impact your life.

Economic damages are for:

Medical bills, including medication, surgeries, rehabilitation, physical therapy, and emergency room visits
lost wages and earnings, current and into the future
property damage

Noneconomic damages may include:

physical and emotional pain and suffering
loss of companionship or consortium
permanent disability or disfigurement
loss of enjoyment of life

Damage award amounts for personal injury vary, and may range from the thousands to millions of dollars, depending on the individual circumstances of your case. In general, settlements will be higher in situations where injuries are severe and require expensive treatment and long-term continuing care.

Why Long-Term Care Increases Case Value

Insurers and juries determine the value of a case by looking at your injuries and determining the size, duration, and credibility of your medical care. More and longer treatment—when it’s recommended by appropriate providers and shown to be medically necessary—typically means:

Higher past medical bills and projected future medical needs to reimburse.
Greater lost wages and reduced earning capacity — if injuries cause long-term inability to work, settlements account for future earnings lost.
Stronger proof of pain, suffering, and loss of enjoyment over time. The longer and more intensive the treatment, the higher the potential award for non-economic damages like physical discomfort and emotional distress.
Clearer evidence of functional limits that impact work and daily life. Cases involving catastrophic or permanent injuries (e.g., paralysis, traumatic brain injury) lead to higher settlement values due to lifelong medical and treatment needs and reduced earning capacity, and they also result in reduced quality of life.

Well-documented long-term care often anchors a larger settlement. In Minnesota, serious injuries with lifelong consequences can result in substantial settlements, sometimes exceeding $1 million. In Wisconsin, the severity and permanence of injuries significantly drive payouts, with structured settlements available for extensive future care.

Common Long-term Treatments

Depending on the nature of the injury, long-term treatments after an accident may include:

Specialist care & follow-ups: orthopedics, neurology, pain management.
Physical/occupational therapy and work conditioning programs.
Chiropractic care and manual therapy when clinically indicated.
Injections (epidural steroid, facet, nerve blocks), radiofrequency ablation.
Surgery (arthroscopy, spinal surgery) and hardware removal years later.
Rehabilitation: inpatient rehab, outpatient PT/OT, home health.
Assistive devices & home modifications: braces, TENS units, canes, ramps.
Mental-health care: PTSD, anxiety, depression linked to the trauma.
Medication management and pain programs.
Life-care planning for permanent disabilities.

The longer and more specialized the care—when tied to the crash—the more persuasive the proof of lasting harm.

Injury Laws That May Influence Long-term Treatment

Minnesota & Wisconsin both have specific injury laws that may influence settlement value.

In Minnesota, most auto claims start with personal injury protection (PIP) benefits—$20,000 medical + $20,000 for wage loss/replacement services/funeral, minimum per person. According to MN statute 65B.44, PIP pays these benefits regardless of fault and helps cover long-term care early on. To pursue non-economic damages against the at-fault driver, you must meet at least one threshold (e.g., $4,000 in medical treatment expenses, 60+ days disability, permanent injury/disfigurement, or death). Long-term treatment often helps meet these thresholds and allows you to file a lawsuit.
In Wisconsin, there is no PIP. Claims are brought directly against the at-fault party; documenting long-term care is crucial to prove medical specials and non-economic loss.

Both states follow comparative negligence laws—Minnesota uses modified comparative fault statute 604.01 (51% bar rule), and Wisconsin follows modified comparative negligence statute 895.045 (51% rule) as well. This means that if you are found 51% or more at fault for your accident, you cannot recover compensation. As long as you are 50 % of less at fault, you are still entitled to compensation, but it will be reduced by the percentage of fault you are found to bear. Imaging can help reduce disputes about the cause and severity of your injuries, which can affect how fault is assigned.

How an Attorney Can Maximize Long-term-care Settlements

Having a skilled personal injury attorney on your side can often maximize settlement amounts in long-term care cases. Here are some ways your attorney can help:

Can Evaluating Injury and Prognosis: Attorneys can retain medical experts such as life-care planners, vocational specialists, economists to estimate costs of future medical treatments and lost earning capacity even before settlement discussions begin. They ensure treatment is appropriate, necessary, and well-documented and avoid gaps that insurers exploit.
Timing the settlement: Your attorney will advise you on when you’re close enough to Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) to resolve the case without leaving money on the table. Waiting to settle a claim until you reach or approach Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) is critical because the more complete your medical records and prognosis will be. Settling too early risks undervaluing future care like injections, additional therapy, or surgery which may be necessary in the future. Once you accept a settlement and sign a release, you usually can’t reopen the claim, even if you need additional care.
Negotiation & litigation pressure: Your lawyer can compile persuasive medical narratives, surgeon letters, imaging, functional capacity evaluations, and day-in-the-life evidence. They will negotiate aggressively with insurance companies to get compensation for the full spectrum of damages, including all future medical expenses, pain and suffering, and lost earning capacity. If necessary, they will take your case to court and advocate on your behalf.

Get Help from Our Personal Injury Attorneys

At Tyroler Leonard Injury Law in Minnesota, we are dedicated to helping people who are going through some of the worst times of their lives. In addition to the immediate pain and trauma caused by accidental injuries, the feelings of uncertainty about what will happen next can bring on severe emotional stress and anxiety. We work to relieve stress through sound and trustworthy legal representation.

Our law firm guides people through the personal injury claims process, including people who have been hurt in motor vehicle accidents, falls, and other incidents caused by another party’s negligence. With the help of our experienced personal injury lawyers, you can use your need for long-term treatment to prove the seriousness of your injuries and fight for the justice and compensation you deserve.

Whether your case can be settled outside of court through negotiations with insurers or must be resolved at trial, our responsive attorney team will make sure you are kept informed every step of the way. We offer a free consultation, and there are no fees to you unless and until we win your case.

We can be reached 24 hours a day by calling (651) 259-1113

Attorney Isaac Tyroler

Attorney Isaac Tyroler has been a strong advocate for injured people his entire legal career. He has a passion for righting wrongs, and he deeply cares about representing injured clients who may feel overwhelmed or uncertain about how to navigate the legal system. He is compassionate toward clients and aggressive with insurance companies and defendants. He is on the elected Board of Governors of the Minnesota Association of Justice (MAJ), the top personal injury lawyers’ group in Minnesota. And is currently the chair of MAJ’s legislative committee. [ Attorney Bio ]