Every kind of personal injury claim depends on two primary pillars, these are known to be the damages and the liability. Now, when the damages and the injuries are addressed, it is also made sure that the scope of the damages is also mentioned.
Here is when medical records and evidence come into the picture. Medical records play a major role in portraying injuries in both tangible and intangible forms. It must also be known that these records are not just confined to the injuries, they also focus on the medical bills and other relevant financial terms.
A personal injury lawyer in Houston is equipped with all the needed information that needs to be known about medical records and their importance in a case.
What is Considered as a Medical Record?
Medical records consist of the history of the patient being suffered in an accident. These include all the clinical interactions, the diagnosis, and the treatment received.
These can be:
Laboratory Tests: These include the tests from the laboratories like the X-rays, the blood tests, and some of other diagnostic tests.
History: The medical history also comes under the medical records. It has all the previous surgeries, any family history of an ailment, and previous vaccinations.
Record of Medication: The data of the prescribed medication, the duration of them, and the associated issues with them.
Billing: Bills include the details of the treatments being done and the costs related to them.
Treatment Plans: The treatments that will be taking place, including the procedures, the therapies, and the surgeries as well.
What Makes a Medical Record Complete?
To make the medical records valuable in a personal injury claim, they need to be detailed and comprehensive. Here are some of the factors that you need to keep in mind.
Time and Date Stamps
In case of the injury claims, the date and time stamps play a very important role. These can prove to be really beneficial in keeping the proper timeline of the incident.
Clear Mention of the Diagnosis
The medical record must have a clear mention of the injury or the ailment being diagnosed. The diagnosis must come from a professional, or a doctor and is considered more authentic when it is supported with test reports.
Referrals
If the doctor has referred the patient to some other doctor or a facility, it must be mentioned on the records. This helps a lot in better understanding of the injury with its specifications.
Prognosis
This includes the time that might be needed for the proper recovery of the patient. It also mentions any ailments that will take more time to recover, with the other future treatments.
How to Present Medical Records?
Hvi only the medical records is never enough, their presentation in the court is what makes all the difference. The manner in which the information is presented is what strengthens the case.
A Timeline
A chronological order timeline is necessary to map the sequence in which the event took place. Now, putting all the events in order can help in forming a clear storyline. This also helps a lot in finding out the gaps if there are any existing.
If in one of the cases, there are more than one medical expert handling the case, chronologically arranged documentation can help them find what procedures were performed at what time.
Steps
To make a timeline, here are some of the steps that you should be following.
- There must be a point of reference, like the date of the injury
- The initial consultations, diagnosis, and the emergency treatments
- Follow-up visits must be mentioned
- Incorporate the therapy and rehabilitation
- Mention the current treatment and projected treatments
Also, try and add details like putting emphasis on the severity of the injuries. These can have a really hard impact on the authenticity of the case.
The involvement of the visuals like reports including x-rays, MRIs, and other related reports, can sometimes be considered more authentic than textual information.
To prove the injury is very serious or to make it look like that, you can use a technique to highlight the specialized treatments or consultations.
Try to add summaries or annotations made by the doctors or the specialists of the report to make it sound more authentic. The presentation done in this way can sound very real and authentic. This way of presentation will increase your chances of winning.
Conclusion
When we talk about medical records in personal injury claims, the way it is presented holds a lot of value. With that, the factors that make medical information authentic also need to be focused on. The medical records can be presented by any party, what makes them believable is how comprehensively they have been prepared.