Finding Vital Facts in Medical Records for Insurance Defense Injury Litigation
To unearth important details that can help disprove a plaintiff’s injury claim, medical record review is indispensable. Here are some major considerations in this regard.
The plaintiff’s medical records are important in insurance defense injury litigation because they are very likely to contain information sources beyond mere examination findings diagnoses, and prognoses. Such valuable details can be obtained only via a comprehensive review of the medical notes. As an insurance defense attorney, you need to locate information that will help establish that the damages the plaintiff claims may not have resulted from the particular injury cited in the lawsuit. Let us look at some of the major considerations in this regard.
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Are there inconsistencies? The versions of events given to physicians must be in keeping with other evidence in the case. If there are visible contradictions for example, between what is recorded in the physician notes and what the blood tests say, those contradictions can be used to impeach the witness. Moreover, conflicting facts will surely weaken the trustworthiness of the person testifying.
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Are there any pre-existing conditions? If the claimant is already suffering from some other condition that may limit or have an impact on his/her daily activities, that has to be noted carefully. In such a case, you can always argue and establish that the particular injury mentioned in the lawsuit may not be solely responsible for the damages claimed.
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Are there missing reports as regards injury or pain? When reviewing the records, find out the presenting complaints the first post-incident medical provider has noted down. If any injury mentioned in the lawsuit is not mentioned in those medical records until a year after the incident, it definitely throws doubt regarding the truth of the plaintiff’s claim.
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Do you have the complete set of medical records? When preparing for deposition, you must ensure that you have the complete set of medical records relevant to the case. Any missing record may prove vital at some stage of the case, so it is best to have all the documents in hand right from stage 1.
Given the fact that reviewing voluminous medical records is challenging and tedious, you can always go for dependable medical review services. Whether you review the documents in-house or rely on an outside agency, only a comprehensive medical record review can bring to light the key evidence you can effectively use in deposition and trial.