Why Medical Records Are Important for a Strong Medical Malpractice Case
When you visit your healthcare provider or facility, you trust that the doctors, nurses, and other healthcare providers will provide medical care to the highest standards. Unfortunately, when errors happen, the consequences can be life-altering or even life-threatening. Not only can medical malpractice lead to physical and emotional trauma, but it can also lead to overwhelming financial strain because of unexpected medical expenses and loss of income.
If you or a loved one has suffered harm at the hands of a healthcare provider, you may have a medical malpractice case. However, proving your case requires more than just explaining what happened. You need to provide solid evidence, such as your medical records. Let’s explore why medical records are crucial to your medical malpractice case.
What Are Medical Records?
Medical records provide a detailed treatment history, documenting every encounter with a medical professional. In a medical malpractice claim, these records can highlight negligence and establish a connection between a provider’s actions and the harm you suffered. They can pinpoint areas where things went wrong or how your healthcare provider deviated from the accepted standard of care. Medical records can contain the following critical information:
- Evidence of the injury
- Doctor’s notes
- Test results
- Prescribed medications
- Surgical notes
- Surgery recordings
- Specialists who were consulted (if any)
- Nurses’ reports
How Medical Records Can Strengthen Your Medical Malpractice Case
A well-documented medical record can only be helpful to a defendant if it demonstrates stellar medical care. However, you rarely find a well-documented medical record in most medical malpractice cases. This is what your attorney may use to support your case. While a poorly documented record doesn’t prove malpractice, it can make it much harder for healthcare providers or hospitals to defend themselves. If your medical chart is incomplete or inconsistent, it can work in your favor. Here’s how this can happen:
- Exposing Gaps In Care: If your records lack crucial details, such as follow-up instructions or test results, this could question their credibility.
- Revealing Conflicting Accounts: If, for instance, a doctor’s notes state that a patient was stable, but nursing records indicate severe pain, this inconsistency could cast doubt on the provider’s credibility.
- Highlighting Ignored Symptoms: A patient’s complaints and symptoms documented in records but disregarded by medical staff can demonstrate negligence.
- Demonstrating Delays In Treatment: If tests or procedures were not performed promptly, the records will show this delay.
- Establishing Misdiagnosis: If the diagnosis or treatment was inappropriate for the condition, the records may show this.
While your testimony of the suffering you have experienced since the malpractice event can be powerful, the hard evidence ensures you have a strong and successful case because it provides objective proof to support your claim.
How a Lawyer Can Help
While you have every right to access your medical records, getting them isn’t always easy. Hospitals might delay availing them, privacy laws can complicate things, especially if multiple providers are involved, and even when you finally get them, the medical jargon can be tricky to understand. That’s where a medical malpractice attorney comes in. They can help you overcome these challenges, ensure you get all the necessary records, and have them properly reviewed by experts to build a strong case.
Speak to a Skilled Tampa Medical Malpractice Lawyer
If you believe you have a medical malpractice case, contact our skilled Tampa medical malpractice lawyers at Gunn Law Group P.A. today to evaluate your case and protect your rights.
