How Medical Evidence Features In Injury Cases

Blog

When presenting a case, one of the biggest concerns a personal injury lawyer usually wants to address is how much medical evidence is available. There are a variety of legal reasons why this part of filing a claim or advancing a lawsuit is critical, but these three issues are among the most important.

Showing Damages

A baseline question that has to be addressed at the start of nearly all injury cases is, "Were there measurable damages involved?" For example, someone could maliciously attempt to do unspeakable harm to you and it wouldn't count for anything if the result was that you were barely bruised, especially if it led to no provable psychological or emotional harm.

To show damages, a personal injury attorney will focus on collecting medical reports. You might go to a chiropractor, for example, to document the damage that was done to your lower back after you experienced a slip and fall. A professional can then note which body parts were injured and to what extent, putting everything into a report.

Dispelling Pre-Existing Condition Claims

One of the go-to defenses in injury cases is to assert that the damages being shown were the products of previous incidents. In other words, to fundamentally accuse the plaintiff of either misunderstanding their injuries or engaging in outright fraud.

A medical examination should be conducted as soon as possible following an incident. This will allow a doctor to present a report with the most contemporaneous account possible of what happened to your body.

Similarly, you'll want to present any information about pre-existing conditions. Bear in mind having a pre-existing condition doesn't automatically cancel a case. It's absolutely possible for someone who has a broken wrist, for example, to break it again. The important thing is to be forthright about previous injuries and conditions because this information will come out if a defendant pushes for discovery in court.

Making Things Right

The main goal of the injury law system in America is to make things right for the party who was wronged. To arrive at a compensation figure that makes things right, medical evidence needs to be presented. In particular, evidence needs to be used to explain how the situation will be made right and what that will cost. That might mean compensation to pay for things like physical therapy sessions, medical devices, surgeries, and long-term care. Once you settle, you'll most likely never get another shot at getting more money so you want to get this right the first time.

Share  

11 February 2020

After The Accident: A Law Resource Website

Getting in any sort of car accident is traumatic, especially if your injuries are bad enough to land you in the hospital. The last thing you want to worry about after the crash is medical bills, but sadly, insurance companies do not always make it easy to collect the funds to cover those expenses. On top of that, you have lost wages from the days you missed at work. There is a solution. Personal injury and car accident attorneys are there to make sure you get the compensation you deserve after a car accident. We've created this website to help you learn more about their services.