What Documents Do You Need for a Medical Malpractice Case?
Medical malpractice is an area of personal injury law that states a medical professional was negligent and that negligence led to an injury, loss, or more severe illness on the part of a patient. If you believe your illness or injury was worsened due to neglect from a surgeon, doctor, nurse, or member of hospital staff, you might be able to sue them for damages. Here are some documents and records you need to have for this type of case.
Financial Statements
One of the first collections of documents you will need is your financial statements. Part of a medical malpractice case is showing that you have suffered financially due to your illness or injury at the hands of a medical professional. This might be lost wages due to the consequences of the negligence, the struggle to pay for medical bills, or the costs of paying for psychological help if it was a traumatic experience. Start gathering financial statements that show what type of hit your bank account has had as a result of this incident.
If you have had any documents from your employer stating your job is at risk due to having to miss a large amount of work, that should also be included.
Medical Records
One of the most important documents required for a medical malpractice case is a copy of your medical records. Your records should show a timelines of getting treatment or surgery at a doctor's office, dentist's office, hospital, or other medical office, as well as what occurred after the negligence. This might be a surgery that went wrong that then required a stint in the hospital and more surgeries. You may have gone into the hospital and had a wrong diagnosis, which led to your illness worsening. The records should ideally show the medical staff that helped you, from doctor visits and consultation with a surgeon to the nurse checking your vitals in the ER.
Mental Health Documents
If due to the illness or injury you have needed mental help, you also need to include documentation for that. For example, if your aesthetician was not paying close enough attention to your vitals and you woke up during surgery, you might have experienced post-traumatic stress disorder due to this incident. If you needed to see a counselor or therapist, you should have record of that—not only of the visits, but the amount you paid for these visits, whether covered by insurance or not, and any prescriptions you needed to take. If you have to take work off to visit a therapist, include documentation of that as well.
Contact a personal injury lawyer from a firm such as Walz Law Office to get started on your case.