Courts typically do not recognize shortened life expectancy as a separate injury, but it may be considered in determining the seriousness of someone's injury, decreased earning capacity, pain and suffering, and mental suffering from knowing one's life with be shorter. Jurors are usually told to determine a plaintiff's future damages based on the standard life expectancy tables. That being said, due to improvements in medical science and living conditions over the years, your life expectancy might be greater than the standard tables indicated, entitling you to greater damages.