When a patient is injured or dies as a result of inappropriate medical treatment, it is known as medical negligence. In medical negligence cases, it’s important to provide your attorney with a list of specific items to better help them investigate the claim.
The first set of items your attorney will need is any background information related to your case. Your attorney will need a chronological list of key events that led to your injury, as well as a list of any people who were there at the time. It’s also important to include a list of any people who spoke to the health care provider.
You should also include a statement that will inform your attorney about how and when you first knew that you may have received inappropriate medical treatment.
Next, you will need to provide information about the healthcare provider itself. Make sure you include the names of all doctors and hospitals involved in your care, on top of the name of the doctor or doctors’ professional practice(s).
After you provide all of the background information and information about the healthcare provider, it’s time to give your attorney some information about yourself.
The most important set of items to provide is your medical history. It doesn’t have to be too extensive, but make sure you briefly describe it. Include a list of any medications you take, along with a statement of what you were told by the doctor or hospital about your treatment at the time of the injury.
It’s important to include a copy of all medical records, both from the treating doctor and from the hospital. These records should include the entire medical chart, and not just the summary.
There are two special cases that would require more records: birth injury and death.
In a birth injury case, it’s important to provide both your prenatal records and any records from other pregnancies and deliveries. Include your labor and delivery records, the fetal monitor strip, the baby’s newborn records and the pediatrician’s records. It’s also important to provide any reports of radiology studies, such as MRI or CAT scans, as well as any records relating to any testing done on the child.
In a death case, it is important to include a copy of the autopsy report.
It’s a lot of information to include, but all of it will help your attorney investigate the case. However, if you cannot obtain any of the records, your attorney can do that for you.
