The Role of Medical Records in Strengthening Your Oklahoma Personal Injury Claim

If you were injured due to someone else’s negligence, you may be entitled to compensation. To recover it, you’ll need evidence that clearly shows what happened and how you were harmed. Learning how medical records can strengthen your Oklahoma injury claim in conjunction with working with a Tulsa personal injury attorney can put you in a stronger position to recover the compensation you’re owed.

Why are medical records so important for an Oklahoma personal injury claim?

Validate your injuries

To obtain compensation for an injury you sustained, you must first prove the injury exists. Out of all the ways you can do this, one of the most effective is medical documentation that supports your claims. For example, you might believe you sustained a concussion in a car accident, but without medical records confirming that diagnosis, there’s often no objective proof that the injury occurred.

If you have been injured, you should see a doctor. Your doctor will validate your injuries and create medical records that prove the existence of those injuries. As a result, the treatment and corresponding records will make it easier for you to obtain compensation that aligns with your harms and losses.

Prove causation

A successful personal injury lawsuit requires you to prove that the defendant’s actions were a proximate cause of your injury.

If you slip and fall on a wet surface and later develop a back injury, medical records demonstrating your injury and documenting treatment around the time of the fall can help establish that the accident caused the injury. Alternatively, if there is a large gap of time in between a traumatic event and the first documented complaint of harm, insurance companies can use that fact to inject uncertainty as to whether the injury is truly from the accident, or if something else happened along the way.

Maximize your compensation

To pursue the full compensation allowed under Oklahoma law for an injury you sustained, you must prove that this injury occurred and resulted in meaningful damages. Medical records play a key role in demonstrating damages and how your injury has affected your life.

If you were in a car accident and sustained a traumatic brain injury, medical records can help document your symptoms and support claims of pain and suffering. These reports can go hand-in-hand with the medical care you have received, the costs associated with the medical care, and what may be needed in the future medically speaking.

What types of medical records can you use to strengthen your Oklahoma personal injury claim?

You can use many different types of medical records to strengthen your Oklahoma personal injury claim. Potentially relevant medical records include:

• Emergency room reports
• Doctor’s notes
• Diagnostic test results
• Rehabilitation records
• Medical bills
• Medical expense documents
• Surgical reports
• Prescription records
• Progress reports
• Surgical estimates and/or lifecare plans

Each of these records can help demonstrate that you sustained an injury, support your story of how it happened, and document the damages you’re claiming.

Why is consistent treatment so important?

To protect your claim and strengthen your request for compensation, pursuing consistent medical treatment is often the best course of action. Consistent treatment can often:

• Validate the seriousness of your injuries by demonstrating that they require some form of long-term care.
• Allow doctors to assess the injuries you sustained and to address related issues that may not be easily visible.
• Help you develop a thorough set of medical records that validate your injury claims and make it easier for you to demonstrate your need for damages.
• Verify the seriousness of your injuries and in turn, the need for compensation to adequately pay for those losses.
• Support many of the other claims you may make in a personal injury lawsuit, such as the need to be off work or future medical care needs.

If you don’t pursue consistent treatment, the other party could argue that gaps in treatment undermine the alleged severity or causation, such as:

• Your injuries aren’t serious, since you apparently didn’t need much treatment.
• There is not enough proof to suggest that you sustained injuries deserving of compensation.
• You don’t need the compensation you are requesting, since there was either a lack of prescribing or a lack of following up with consistent, ongoing care.

What are some useful tips for obtaining/preserving medical documentation?

To obtain and preserve medical documentation, you may wish to do the following:

• Request copies of the medical records associated with each appointment, treatment, and session.
• Put these copies in a folder and place this folder in a secure location.
• Create digital copies of those medical records and store them on your device, as well as on the cloud.
• Make use of online patient systems to access, copy, and share your medical records.
• Create a list of the medications you’re taking to treat your injury.
• Develop your own injury timeline, starting with the date and time you were injured.
• Contact your provider if you lose or don’t receive the records you need. Patients generally have a right to access and obtain copies of their medical records, subject to limited exceptions and standard procedures.

A personal injury lawyer can provide their own suggestions while helping you gather and present this evidence.

Speak with one of our Tulsa personal injury lawyers today

If you were injured as a result of someone else’s negligence, you may be able to obtain compensation. Contact Biby Law Firm to learn more. Our Tulsa personal injury lawyers are ready to help.