Our Services: Medical records
Add a Little SALT to your Cases
The services of a legal
nurse consulting firm add a new dimension of flavoring to
claims involving medical issues. The challenges of
law warrant the use of experienced medical assistance in
handling claims.
S:
Screening
 Screening medical malpractice cases for
merit is more important now than ever before. The commitment
of time and resources to these types of cases requires meticulous
screening for liability, damages, and causation before cases
are filed. Med League Support Services, Inc. provides screening
of medical malpractice
cases prior to filing a claim. Relevant medical literature
that defines the standard of care helps to establish or
refute the liability and causation. Evaluation of the permanency
of damages
is needed to pinpoint the injuries. Our services help to
reduce the risks associated with pursuing these complex
medical malpractice claims.
A: Analyzing
Complex medical issues
require a good grasp of the details found in medical records.
The first step in analysis of medical
records is careful organization of records. Pre-printed
medical chart organizers used by Med League expedite
the location of information in the record by experts and
attorneys alike. We consistently receive compliments on
how easy it is to use medical records that we have organized.
Detailed medical summaries save the attorney time in finding
the key information about symptoms, diagnoses, and treatment
following a personal injury. Information about pre-existing
conditions can dramatically influence the liability and
damages of a claim. The details of a prior car accident,
for example, may be revealed in medical records but never
shared with the plaintiff’s attorney.
Timelines can be developed to show a minute by minute account
of key events, such as sudden changes in a patient’s
condition in an operating room, or convey the details of
a course of treatment over months of time. Med League is
skilled in preparing demonstrative evidence which
helps the jury understand the correlation between key events
and the condition of the plaintiff. Such exhibits are useful
for both asserting and refuting the plaintiff’s claims
and can be presented in poster size, PowerPoint
presentations or trial presentation software systems.
L: Locating
It often takes a medical
mind to locate key documents and pieces of information.
A legal nurse consultant’s understanding of medical
terminology and procedures guides the search in the most
efficient manner. The attorney who thinks that medical records
are complete may be surprised to learn that the medication
administration records were not supplied by the hospital.
Med League’s staff readily recognizes the omission.
By understanding the documents that should be present, we
quickly see what has not been supplied. One sentence in
a report or a single laboratory value, such as a blood alcohol
level, may be crucial in a claim. In one case, both
the plaintiff attorney and claims adjuster believed
that the driver was impaired at the time
of the accident. Both missed the fact that Morphine was
administered in the emergency department before the blood
was tested for narcotics. The assertion that the driver
was impaired was dropped after we pointed out the timing
of the Morphine administration.
Understanding the authoritative
texts, internet
resources, and professional healthcare associations
is invaluable when it comes to locating key medical information.
This assistance is essential when attempting to refute or
substantiate a claim involving injuries from alleged defective
products. Establishing causation can hinge on being able
to locate the medical literature relevant to the case. Can
mold in building cause birth defects? Can an abdominal injury
cause a new onset of diabetes? Was it standard of care to
do pulse oximetry readings on medical surgical units in
1995? Can trauma precipitate multiple sclerosis? Our staff
has been asked to locate information to answer these kinds
of questions. We are skilled in the process of hunting for
the answers.
T:
Transcribing/Translating
We are skilled in transcribing
pages of medical records, from the
single sheet emergency room record to 25 pages of a psychiatrist’s
scribble. The
world of medicine is filled with arcane medical terms and
abbreviations.
Attorneys can be stumped trying to read a medical report
that is perfectly clear to a person with medical training.
Understanding common prefixes and suffixes is useful in
deciphering medical terms, as is a good medical dictionary.
But comprehending medical terminology goes beyond the translation
of the term into simpler language. Determining the significance
of the medical information is made easier with the help
of the medical knowledge base of a legal
nurse consultant.
Abbreviations are useful
timesavers when healthcare professionals are attempting
to convey long terms in a minimum of time. For example,
it is so much faster to write “CHTN with PIH”
than it is to write “chronic hypertension with pregnancy
induced hypertension.” However, this example makes
the point that abbreviations can be confusing and having
multiple meanings. For instance, the correct meaning of
CVA (cerebral vascular accident or costovertebral angle)
has to be deciphered in the context of other documentation
surrounding the entry. There are large numbers of medical
abbreviations that have more than one meaning. Knowing which
abbreviation makes sense in the context of the note is learned
through our years of exposure to medical records.
Healthcare facilities
are encouraged to create and enforce the use of a standard
list of abbreviations and to avoid using dangerous
abbreviations. This is easier said than done. New abbreviations
may enter a facility with a group of interns or residents
who have picked up or created their own abbreviations at
other facilities. Attending physicians may make up their
own abbreviations known only to them. For example, one internist
described his patients as “KGH” for “keeping
good health.” In an effort to reduce medical errors
caused by misinterpretation of abbreviations, the Joint
Commission is encouraging facilities to post lists of unapproved
abbreviations. Med League has compiled some of the most
common medical abbreviations in our publication, The ABCs of
Medical Abbreviations.
Using the SALT services
of Med League helps to prevent surprises in the courtroom.
No one wants to be caught not understanding some crucial
medical issue in a case. Let us help you add spice to your
cases to simplify your work.
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