As a certified specialist in injury and wrongful death litigation, I am very experienced in helping people who have suffered serious injuries as a result of the negligence of another. Immediately after the injury is suffered, most personal injury victims are taken to the hospital. Very often this is done by either helicopter (air evacuation) or by ambulance. The documentation of the condition and the injury suffered begins right at the scene of an accident. The first responders will have notes of the condition that they observe for a new personal injury plaintiff. After that, the ambulance driver and/or air evacuation unit will have further notes. Upon arrival at the hospital, there is a new set of eyes and medical providers who are taking more notes. Within 45 minutes of a very serious accident, it is not unusual to have at least three different sets of notes and observations.
After that, the medical records grow and grow and grow. The reality is that medical providers are very busy. They do their best to document the medical condition somebody is in. However, medical records are very often inaccurate. That is due to any number of factors including, but not limited to, how busy the doctors may be, communication problems between the person who was injured and the doctors, doctors memory when they dictate notes after having seen many different people between the time they saw the injured plaintiff and the time that their notes were dictated, and a variety of other factors.
Overcoming errors in medical records can be very difficult because of the power of the written word and the faith people put into the medical charts. Therefore, having a personal injury lawyer who is experienced and going through all the medical records, and where necessary having a nurse or doctor review the chart for added scrutiny, and looking for things that will be consistent with the information that was accurate and favorable, as opposed to the mistake or miscommunication that got written down by one provider, is vital.
If you have any questions whatsoever about obtaining or handling a personal injury case and what to do about your medical records, please do not hesitate to give us a call at Breyer Law Offices, P.C. We are very happy to provide you honest insight into the effect any particular medical records may have upon your potential serious personal injury claim.