In traffic accidents, victims who become disabled due to injuries need to rely on assistive devices such as wheelchairs and prosthetics for a long time to maintain their lives, and the costs of replacing, repairing, and maintaining these devices will continue to occur. Can we demand compensation from the infringer for the inevitable expenses that will arise in the future? Recently, Beijing No.2 Intermediate People's Court concluded a related case. In 2020, 50 year old Yang collided with a heavy dump truck driven by Zhang while riding an electric bicycle, resulting in Yang's left calf amputation and requiring him to wear a prosthetic limb for life. According to the public security traffic management department, Yang is not responsible. After identification, Yang's left lower limb injury is classified as Grade 7 disability. Yang sued to the court, demanding that Zhang compensate for various losses, including the three-year service life of the calf prosthesis, the one-year lifespan of the silicone sleeve, and corresponding maintenance costs. Combined with the 2020 average life expectancy of 80.88 years for Chinese women published by the National Bureau of Statistics, the total cost of disability assistive devices for her average life expectancy was calculated to be over 970000 yuan. During the trial, Yang provided a certificate from the assembly institution regarding the assembly of prosthetic limbs, which included relatively reasonable explanations regarding the inspection of residual limbs, opinions on prosthetic configuration, prosthetic products, and usage cycles. The court, based on Yang's age, prosthetic replacement cycle, and the above explanation from the preparation company, temporarily calculated the disability assistive device fee for three cycles (9 years), and supported some of his litigation claims accordingly. After calculation, the total cost of Yang wearing prosthetic limbs is over 295000 yuan. According to Article 1179 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China and Article 13 of the Interpretation of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in the Trial of Cases of Personal Injury Compensation (2022 Amendment), the court finally ruled that Zhang should compensate Yang for disability assistive device fees of more than 295000 yuan. According to the case, the victim needs to be equipped with prosthetics, orthotics, wheelchairs and other disability assistive devices due to injury and disability, which need to be replaced, repaired and maintained during normal use. Although the cost has not yet been actually incurred, disability assistive devices often have the characteristics of frequent replacement and maintenance, and long service life. If they are claimed separately after each actual occurrence in the later stage, it will inevitably lead to the burden of litigation for the parties involved and the inability to timely compensate for the losses of the victim. Therefore, for these reasonable expenses that will inevitably arise in the future, they should be supported on the premise of complying with legal provisions. Specific factors that need to be comprehensively considered include: the individual condition of the victim, such as age, life expectancy, and trends in physical health recovery; The universal applicability of disability assistive devices, such as whether they belong to imported high priced models and the industry's common replacement cycle; Disability appraisal opinions issued by judicial appraisal institutions, replacement suggestions and cost certificates issued by equipment preparation institutions, etc; The degree of correlation between the recovery of injured parts and the wear and tear of equipment. After exceeding the compensation period determined by the court, if the victim still needs to continue using or replacing the equipment, they may claim additional costs to avoid the suspension of their rights due to insufficient one-time compensation. The support of judicial practice for the "yet to be incurred costs" of disability assistive devices demonstrates the long-term guarantee of the dignity of survival for the disabled due to injury. The victim should retain key evidence, promptly confirm the necessity of preparing disability assistive devices through judicial appraisal, keep written opinions issued by the preparation institution, regularly review and update medical records to prove the necessity of continuous dependence on the devices. For elderly or unstable injuries, it can be claimed to calculate the compensation period in segments, and after the expiration of the period, a new claim can be made based on new evidence. For the victim's claim, the infringer or insurance company should pay attention to whether it is a luxury appliance that exceeds the universally applicable standards, and verify whether the replacement cycle is significantly shorter than the industry standard. It is important to respect the professional opinions of appraisal agencies, allocation agencies, and other institutions, actively fulfill compensation obligations, and promote substantive resolution of disputes. (New Society)