The Impact of the Psychiatrist on the Life Care Plan

A life care plan is a tool that is used for medical treatment planning and management purposes in many settings, including legal and forensic applications. This article summarizes the life care planning process and emphasizes the role of the psychiatrist in establishing a strong medical foundation for the plan. The psychiatrist's expertise in determining the nature and extent of the evaluee's psychiatric illness, prognosis, need for and likely benefit from treatment, and costs of care inform the life care planning process. Advising life care planners on these matters is a natural extension of the work of psychiatrists and forensic psychiatrists, who are accustomed to providing medical opinions to the courts. There are specific challenges when the psychiatrist creates recommendations for the life care plan; they include determining long-term prognosis, devising treatment plans, and identifying malingering. These questions are explored to assist the psychiatrist in providing the foundation for a life care plan.