Visits with Doctors and Other Health Care Providers

April 3, 2011 / Category: Frequently Asked Questions

The information contained in the medical reports and the doctors’ clinical notes and records will play a very large role in determining the value of your claim.

Tell Doctors & Health Care Providers All of Your Complaints on Every Visit

As mentioned above, the information contained in the medical reports and various clinical notes and records of health care personnel will play a large role in determining the value of your claim. What any doctor writes in his medical report depends on the notes he has in his chart. And what any doctor has in his chart depends on what the patient tells him/her on various visits. Take an example where a person has injured both his neck and back, but the back is much worse–the back is very sore and the neck is only slightly sore. The person attends on a doctor or physiotherapy or chiropractor and because people tend to only mention the symptom that bothers them the most, the injured person tells his doctor that his back is very sore and stiff but fails to mention anything about a sore neck. The doctor then writes on his chart “patient complaining of sore and stiff back”. No notation is made by the doctor in his chart of the person’s sore neck, because the person did not mention a sore neck. When we write to the doctor for a report, the doctor will look at his medical chart to refresh his memory and write his report based on his medical chart. He will mention only the sore and stiff back in his report and will not mention the sore and stiff neck, because the person did not tell him anything about it. As a result, this person will not receive fair and reasonable compensation for his claim. Make a list of your injuries and take it with you to your medical appointments.

However, you should never overstate your injuries and the impact of these injuries upon your activities of daily living. As a matter of practice, the insurer for the at-fault driver as well as the no-fault insurer will conduct surveillance. If the activity level shown on the surveillance is much more than you have reported in your statements to the doctors or insurance company, then it could undermine your case.

Always tell the truth! So if your activity level increases with the therapy and/or with time, then advise your doctors accordingly. However, if you have any limitations because of your accident-related injuries, then advise your doctors accordingly as well.

Call Stayshyn Law Offices to have a free consultation with our personal injury legal team of lawyers today so that we may help guide you through the many mine fields that an injured victim will face in any injury case.