|
|
Medical Record Review and Analysis Services
Why is it important to understand what is in those medical records?
In every bodily injury case or medical negligence case, the money is in
the medical records. And, in every bodily injury case or medical
negligence case, there is one constant—the medical records. Witnesses
may forget details or may be hard to locate; judges may change; lawyers
may change; stories may change. The medical records—for better or
worse—do not change. What parties or doctors or health care
professionals or lawyers say about the records may change, but the
records do not change. Any lawyer who knows and understands those
records—and knows how to use them—will have an edge on the opposition.
At Discovery Medical Legal Consulting, we take hundreds or thousands of
pages of medical records, depositions, research and reports and distill
them into a readable Chronology of only a few pages, so that you have
the information contained in those medical records in order, in brief.
You will have a comprehensive version of the case that you can carry in
your briefcase, without lugging around hundreds of pages of records, and
you will have a working “map” of your case at your fingertips. We
understand that you need detailed knowledge to persuasively make your
case, and litigation is about the details, and we include the most
significant details, in chronological order. This allows you to fairly
evaluate your case as soon as possible, and to efficiently prepare for
mediation, arbitration or trial. We can help you work more effectively
and to control litigation costs as you prepare your case. With Discovery Medical Legal Consulting, you benefit from working with our
friendly professionals who share over 50 years of experience in law and
nursing. And, although you make the ultimate decisions on what you do
with the medical information, you can concentrate on the legal and
strategic decisions without feeling intimidated by hundreds or thousands
of pages of medical records. The key information will be set out for
you!
What we do:
- We do an initial quick review of the records to understand the
issues and to get a basic understanding of the chronological flow
- Some lawyers ask us to paginate all records so that they can be
easily identified, and then we insert them into Notebooks with a
Table of Contents so that all records have an identifying number for
easy reference. We create a Table of Contents identifying the
location of the various records by provider
- We create an overall
Chronology of Medical Care,(Click
for Sample) incorporating all pertinent information.
We color code the various body parts at issue. For example, neck and
head examinations and treatment will be coded with violet ink, or
backs with blue ink. We err on the side of inclusion rather than
exclusion where the importance of certain information is unclear. We
do this because we cannot always be sure what is pertinent or not,
and we may not be privy to other information that the lawyer might
have and to which the item might relate. In the “Comments” column of
the Chronology, we will define or explain medical terms and
concepts, or comment upon the significance of certain information,
or even the lack of information or of specific records. We suggest
other places at which information might be obtained
- We can
incorporate key deposition testimony or full abstracts of
depositions into the Chronology
- We can also create a separate
Chronology for use by your medical expert, without comments, so
that your expert can have a chronological record and be able to
quickly locate dates and records
- We can prepare separate
Chronologies, narrowing the focus of inquiry. We can focus on a knee
condition, or a low back condition, or pain complaints, or
medications taken, or on the treatment provided by a specific
physician—segregating this specific inquiry from the overall
Chronology so that you can see the information in isolation or in
context with the patient’s overall condition
- We create a Narrative Report(Click
for Sample), discussing specific issues
requested by the attorney, including medical research. For example,
we may discuss the usual symptoms to be expected with an L4-5 disc herniation, or with a medial meniscus tear in the knee, or with a
claimed closed head injury, and then discuss the specific facts
found in the records. We will also discuss other locations where
records might be located, or suggest areas for further inquiry
- We can create a Case Snapshot(Click
for Sample), which is an abbreviated synopsis
of the medical issues and key facts in a case
- We can create a
Timeline,(Click
for Sample) which puts a few key events in a Timeline format, easily
viewable, and which can put key events into context. This is very
helpful for a quick chronological overview, and can be expanded for
use as an exhibit at trial or arbitration or depositions
- We can segregate key medical records or reports to copy for use
as exhibits
Our intention is to create a document or set of documents so
that all pertinent medical information is in one place, for easy
reading, in chronological order, so as to facilitate the
discovery process and to help the attorneys and experts stay on
track. This is why we believe that we will make your medical
experts better. In the long run, you will save time and money
because you will have a better understanding of the medical
issues early in the case. This allows you to have a more focused
discovery process, allows for a better understanding of the
case, and makes for a better prepared attorney and expert. And,
this will help to control the costs in a case, and to create a
winning strategy!
| |
Discovery Medical Legal Consulting Inc.
practices neither law nor medicine, nor does it provide
legal or medical advice. Instead, Discovery Medical
Legal Consulting Inc. provides a medical record review
service to attorneys, insurance companies and related
specialties in the handling of bodily injury or medical
negligence cases. The services offered by Discovery
Medical Legal Consulting Inc. are not intended to
substitute for nor do they replace professional analysis
and handling by the referring attorney or insurance
company, nor are its reports or analyses a substitute
for retention of healthcare experts when appropriate.
The attorney handling the case retains all
decision-making authority and responsibility for use of
the review service and the information and analysis
provided. Any suggestions or recommendations made by
DMLC for further investigation or for use of information
are strategic only, and their use by the attorney is
subject to the attorney’s judgment. Because the services
offered by Discovery Medical Legal Consulting Inc. are
essentially a summary and distillation of a much greater
volume of information, Discovery Medical Legal
Consulting Inc. cannot be responsible for the content,
and it is recognized and understood that DMLC uses its
best judgment as to whether certain information is
included or excluded in the summaries and chronologies,
but the importance or significance of the information
may be subjective to any reader of the records and the
chronologies, and therefore it is agreed and understood
that Discovery Medical Legal Consulting Inc. shall have
no liability to attorneys or insurers that retain it,
nor to their clients or insureds. This agreement shall
in all respects be governed by the laws of the State of
Illinois. |
|
|
|
|
