Experiencing medical malpractice can undermine an individual’s faith in health care professionals and the modern medical system. Whether a doctor made an egregious prescribing error or a surgeon left items behind during an operation, the patient may suffer lasting repercussions for what may have been a split-second mistake on the part of a physician.
When doctors don’t provide their patients with appropriate care, patients may have the option of filing medical malpractice lawsuits. Their personal medical records may play a key role in supporting their claim that a physician was negligent or did not conform to current best practices, and caused harm as a result.
Records can show mistakes and their consequences
Physicians and members of their support staff have an obligation to maintain accurate medical charts regarding the condition of a patient and any interventions provided to them. When those records may include evidence of oversights and errors, individual medical professionals might not want to provide them to patients.
Thankfully, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) establishes the right to access one’s own medical records. In some cases, patients may need to pay a fee for printing the records, but they should receive the entirety of their medical records with nothing removed or redacted.
After obtaining copies of their medical records, patients then need to evaluate them with a medical malpractice attorney and likely another physician. For a claim of medical malpractice to be valid, the plaintiff must meet two key requirements.
The first is to show that the physician did not adhere to current care standards. Another doctor’s review of medical records could help validate that they could have recommended an appropriate treatment, avoided a major mistake or reached an accurate diagnosis with the information available to the physician accused of malpractice.
The second obligation is to show that the medical error or negligence had a direct negative effect on the patient that caused damages. Increased medical expenses, lasting symptoms and lost income are all examples of damages that may directly relate to a physician’s malpractice.
Impacted patients and the families of those who have died due to medical malpractice may need help understanding how to obtain their medical records and to properly evaluate them. Working with an attorney can help people prove that they’ve experienced medical malpractice and take legal steps to hold a physician accountable accordingly.