Life Care Planning Consultants

Vera Dolan is an epidemiologist with over 30 years of experience in the life and health insurance industries. She is one of the leading mortality experts in the life insurance industry. She writes underwriting manuals and policy and procedure manuals for life and health insurance companies.

Vera has testified in both state and federal court, and has been retained in over 200 cases since 2006 for plaintiffs and defense on an equal basis. She is very credible testifying in deposition and on the stand.

* Life expectancies that are personalized and accurate to the standards of the life insurance and life settlement industries. Addresses the cases when life expectancies that are simply taken from a life table or estimated by a doctor, actuary or biostatistician are too long, too short, insufficient or not credible. Addresses the cases when a complete insight into the individual's medical conditions and/or personal history of high-risk behaviors is needed to assist the judge or jury in their decision. This information often decides the case, see article for details.

* Expert in bad faith/wrongful denial of life/health insurance claims.

* Expert in life/health insurance underwriting material misrepresentation.

* Expert in medical risk assessment and underwriting issues.

* Expert in life insurance underwriting policies and procedures.

* Expert in epidemiology. Previous cases include infectious diseases, occupational and environmental exposures, pesticides and tobacco.

* Approved life expectancy expert with the U.S. Department of Justice.

* Active consultant to the life insurance industry conducting cohort mortality studies, and writing underwriting and policy and procedure manuals.

* Over 100 articles published on mortality research and underwriting.

* Friendly, clear, concise, objective and quantitative.

* There is no charge for the initial phone consultation.

* There is no charge for travel time.

Sasse Surgical Associates, PC is Northern Nevada’s premier provider of minimally invasive surgical solutions. Dr. Sasse is a nationally recognized expert in bariatric surgery, gastroparesis, nutritional support, colorectal surgery, minimally invasive hernia and gallbladder surgery, and regenerative wound healing. 

Areas of Expertise:

Founder and Medical Director, Kent C. Sasse, MD, MPH, FACS, FASCRS, FASMBS, is certified by the American Board of Colon and Rectal Surgery, American Board of Surgery, and the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery. 

Dr. Sasse performed the first laparoscopic colon resection procedure and the first laparoscopic gastric bypass procedure in northern Nevada more than 25 years ago. More recently, he is credited with performing the first daVinci Single Site gallbladder procedure in late 2013. 

With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Sasse is a sought-after speaker and mentor to surgeons around the nation. He hosts cadaver courses on surgical topics including complex abdominal wall reconstruction at the University of Nevada School of Medicine for visiting surgeons. He has also authored numerous peer-reviewed research articles, and some of his most recent papers discuss sleeve gastrectomy, laparoscopic rectopexy, gastric physiology, Gastroparesis, endoscopic techniques for gastric repairs, and minimally invasive hernia repair. He is an author of approximately 50 peer-reviewed publications and several books.

View Dr. Sasse's Expert Witness Profile.

Ms. Roughan is a Rehabilitation Nurse Specialist who functions in the capacity of case manager, life care planner and expert witness. Her company, Roughan & Associates at LINC, is a nationally recognized Case Management and Medical/Legal Consulting service. It has been in existence since 1987, providing coordination of patient care; construction of Life Care Plans; and, consultative services to both the defense and plaintiff bar on simple and complex cases alike. Ms. Roughan has experience with diagnoses involving both children and adults and are knowledgeable in current treatment philosophies, identification of appropriate resources. Diagnoses include, but are not limited to:

• Neurological Injuries (Brain and Spinal Cord Injury)
• Burns
• Orthopedic Injures
• Amputation
• Chronic Pain
• Post Traumatic Stress Disorder

Services Include:

• Expert Testimony
• Life Care Planning
• Mini/Preliminary Life Care Plan
• Video Services
• Medical Record Review
• RN Independent Medical Exam
• Medicare Set Aside Trust Analysis
• Medical Bill Auditing
• Questions: Deposition Cross Examining

Research & Planning Consultants, LP (RPC) has been assisting clients with expert services for over 45 years, including consulting and expert witness testimony for personal injury, healthcare litigation, commercial litigation and Certificate of Need matters. RPC also offers a wide selection of health data. They have served clients across the U.S, from Alaska to Florida and from New England to California. 

A Complete Team of Damages Experts for Personal Injury Litigation

Research & Planning Consultants, LP provides the following services: 

• PERSONAL INJURY - RPC provides comprehensive damages analysis in personal injury litigation. Their expert team has life care planners, vocational evaluators, board-certified physicians, economists and neuropsychologists. 

Areas of Expertise include: Life Care Plans, Loss of Earning Capacity or Support, Present Value of Damages, Medical Bill Analysis, Chargemaster Analysis, Neuropsychological Testing & Traumatic Brain Injury, Vocational Evaluations, IMEs, Section 18.001, Prestanding ED Chargemaster Analysis

• COMMERCIAL LITIGATION- RPC has provided expert analysis on commercial litigation concerning many industries: chemicals, refining, forestry, waste management, pipelines, water resources, oil and gas EDP, fisheries, agriculture, electrical generating plants, transmission lines, telecommunications, and real estate development. Our special expertise in the healthcare industry has proven valuable to business litigators unfamiliar with this complex industry.

Areas of Expertise: Breach of Contract / Commercial Economic Damages, Construction Disputes, Litigation over Non-Competitive Agreements, Environmental Torts and Toxic Torts, Commercial Disparagement, Wrongful Termination

• HEALTHCARE LITIGATION - RPC offers economic, statistical, data and clinical analysis in a wide range of healthcare litigation. They have experience with payment disputes, qui tam litigation, physician-hospital disputes, practice valuations and construction litigation. 

Areas of Expertise: Qui Tam Healthcare Litigation, Medical Staff Disputes, Professional Liability, Payment Disputes, Health Facility Construction Disputes, Freestanding ED Chargemester Analysis

• CERTIFICATE OF NEED - RPC provides Certificate of Need (CON) planning services nationwide. We have over 35 years of experience developing regulatory strategy, preparing applications and testifying in public and administrative hearings.

Areas of Expertise: Satellite Hospitals, New Hospitals, Relocation and Transfer of Beds, Observation Beds, Geriatric Psychiatric Units, Children’s Hospitals, Comprehensive Inpatient Rehabilitation Units, Neonatal Intensive Care Units, Open Heart Surgery Services, Long Term Acute Care Units, Projects that exceed CON Capital Threshold Limits, Projects for Specifically Listed Services, Programs Requiring CON, Hospices, Senior Living Facilities

Ronald T. Luke, JD, PhD, is a principal consultant and President of RPC, LP. Ron joined RPC in 1976 and became its president and principal owner in 1979. He has consulted on projects for health care providers, managed care plans and public agencies in more than 25 states. He also serves as an expert witness in trials, administrative proceedings and legislative hearings.

Active in the Health Policy Arena, Dr. Luke has been accepted as an expert in Economics, Socioeconomic Impact Analysis, and Policy Analysis by state and federal courts, and state administrative agencies. The types of cases in which he has provided expert testimony include personal injury, contractual disputes, health care payment disputes, construction defects, utility construction permitting, and certificate of need. He has testified on health care matters including market structure, billing fraud and abuse, reasonableness of charges, medical staff credentialing, workers’ compensation fee guidelines, utilization review, physician contracts, and managed care contracts.

Kacy L. Turner, MS, CRC, CVE, CLCP, is a Certified Life Care Planner and Vocational Consultant with RPC. She has over 20 years of experience in Rehabilitation. Ms. Turner has experience writing life care plans for both plaintiff and defense clients. She has experience as a rehabilitation consultant in three states and has been qualified as a testifying expert in state and federal court.  

Ms. Turner has worked on cases in several states as well as the country of Trinidad. To determine the pre-injury and post-injury employability in personal injury cases, she provides vocational testing, transferable skills analysis, job requirements analysis, rehabilitation plans, and definition of reasonable accommodations under the American with Disabilities Act. She is a member of the International Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, the Texas Association of Rehabilitation Professionals and Providers of Services, and Vocational Evaluation and Career Assessment Professionals.

Brian Piper, PhD,  is an Economist with RPC specializing in Quantitative Analysis and Modelling. He works on a variety of cases including personal injury and certificate of need. He is experienced in data extraction, management, simulation, and analysis using STATA, SQL, ARC GIS and a variety of other programs. Dr. Piper has taught graduate classes in statistics and econometrics in both MBA and Ph.D. programs.

Dr. Piper is an experienced expert, providing testimony, reports, and affidavits on the issues of economic damages in personal injury litigation, healthcare litigation, False Claims Act litigation, and other commercial litigation. He has testified on behalf of plaintiffs and defendants. 

Dr. Piper specializes in the economics of healthcare. He has been retained by healthcare providers and insurers in payment disputes. He has analyzed the reasonableness of charges and expected payment for past and future medical services for providers, insurers, plaintiffs, and defendants. Besides work in litigation, Dr. Piper has provided analysis of Certificate of Need applications and the economic impacts of proposed legislation.

MRK Medical Consultants provides Medical-Legal Evaluations to help legal and insurance professionals reach appropriate conclusions about their client's situations. MRK provides a wide array of medical experts that offer objective review and analysis of personal injuries. Each stage of the process—research to review, analysis to opinion—is addressed in a comprehensive manner in order to help legal and insurance professionals reach appropriate conclusions about their client’s situations. MRK's prestigious list of more than forty consultants are active clinicians and surgeons, who are all board-certified or eligible in one or more specialties. MRK provides physician experts to the entire State of California, the Reno/Lake Tahoe area, and Las Vegas, and we travel to many areas of the United States. Physical therapy, registered nurses, physician assistant, and billing review consultants are available services MRK provides. Our office physicians are available for telephone review of the merits of your case before you decide to proceed.  

Edward W. Younger, III, M.D., Medical Director of MRK Medical Consultants, specializes in Orthopedic Surgery. He has extensive experience in total joint replacement, as well as reconstructive surgery of the knee, hip, and shoulder. He was instrumental in bringing computer navigation technology to his hospital. He served on the orthopedic trauma staff at Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael, California, for more than fifteen years and was instrumental in bringing computer navigation technology to that institution. He is a member of Alpha Omega Alpha National Honor Society and is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthopedic Surgery, a member of the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and the California Orthopedic Association.

Dr. Michael R. Klein, Jr., M.D., specializes in Orthopedic Surgery and is a founding member and the first Medical Director of Northern California Orthopedic Centers. He was involved with the development of the orthopedic section of the Level II Trauma Center at Mercy San Juan Medical Center. He served as a clinical professor at the University of California, Davis, Medical Center for more than thirty years. He has been a member of the North American Spine Society since 2009 and was awarded the David O. Selby Award in 2020 for his contributions. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, and a member of the American Medical Association and the California Medical Association. He retired from the USAF in 1998 after being on active duty during the Vietnam War, and he was activated for Operation Desert Storm in 1991. 

MRK's Areas of Expertise:

Healthways Services, is a small international telehealth clinical practice offering a wide range of biopsychosocial services designed to help individuals achieve exceptional global health outcomes. This is accomplished through the innovative program, "Project S.T.O.P. (Self Taking On Prevention)."

Dr. Christopher A. Lowery, DHSc, CLCP, is a Clinical Health Practitioner and board-certified Life Care Planner. He provides international telehealth services in medical life care planning, clinical health counseling, assessments and evaluations, employment/career counseling, pre-surgical consultation, and biopsychosocial health promotion and prevention. He specializes in developing treatments and creating targeted plans for clinical behavioral health disorders (e.g., anxiety, employment, ADHD, depression, learning differences, dyslexia, substance use, etc.), medical conditions (e.g., chronic pain, burns, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.), and health behavior changes (e.g., weight management, occupational health prevention, preventative nutrition, disparities, physical activity, accident prevention, etc.). 

Counseling services provided are:

He currently holds the following degrees: Bachelor of Science in rehabilitation studies from University of North Texas (07), Master of Arts in human and health administration services from University of Oklahoma (10), Post-Specialty Certificate in life care planning from Capital University Law School (12), Post-Master's Certificate in rehabilitation counseling from University of Arkansas at Little Rock (14), and Doctor of Health Science in global health from Nova Southeastern University (16).  

Dr. Lowery holds a board certification in life care planning as a Certified Life Care Planner (CLCP) from the International Commission on Health Care Certification (ICHCC), which is accredited and recognized by the American National Standards Institute National Accreditation Board (ANAB). This prestigious certification attests to his qualifications and competence in the healthcare delivery systems. ANAB’s accreditation ensures that the certification process meets rigorous international standards, confirming his aptitude and expertise for his role as a practitioner.

**If you have a case needing Dr. Lowery's expertise, please feel free to call his office for a free consultation.

View Christopher Lowery's Expert Witness Profile.