How Brain Injury Lawyers Work With Medical Experts
When someone suffers a traumatic brain injury (TBI) in an accident, they often require extensive medical treatment and rehabilitative therapies. The costs of this care can be astronomical, especially if the injury causes long-term disability. To help their clients recover compensation for their losses, brain injury lawyers routinely consult medical experts.
It is worth it to be aware of how a California traumatic brain injury attorney works with medical experts to help you get the compensation you deserve. Read on and we will help you understand the process.
Assembling the Client’s Medical Records
After meeting with a new TBI client, a brain injury attorney begins gathering their medical records. This includes doctor’s notes, test results like CT scans and MRIs, therapy reports, and medication/prescription histories. Medical records provide documentary evidence regarding the cause, nature, and effects of the client’s injuries.
The lawyer needs authorization to collect these confidential records. Hospitals, clinics, and individual healthcare providers typically require patients to sign release forms before releasing private health information.
Interpreting Complex Medical Evidence
Brain injuries can require treatment from many different specialists like neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech therapists, and more. An experienced brain injury lawyer understands how to read these complex medical reports. However, extracting the most salient details requires assistance from impartial medical experts.
Consulting Independent Medical Examiners
After reviewing the client’s medical files, the brain injury attorney retains independent medical examiners to evaluate the injuries. These neutral specialists examine the client, interpret test results and medical reports, assess symptoms and treatment efficacy, gauge disability levels, and issue evidence-based opinions. Their unbiased perspectives strengthen injury claims.
Medical experts can also critique care providers’ diagnoses and treatment plans if malpractice possibly worsened the TBI patient’s prognosis. Furthermore, independent examiners can project medical costs, equipment needs, home healthcare requirements, and other long-term personal injury damages.
Finding Aligning Medical Experts
Lawyers avoid hiring “hired gun” experts who reach opinions aligning with whichever party retains them, regardless of the facts. The ideal independent medical examiner objectively analyzes the medical evidence and draws impartial, scientifically justified conclusions.
Aligning experts have proper specializations and sub specializations for the case specifics. A mild traumatic brain injury from sports requires different experts than a catastrophic worksite fall TBI causing permanent vegetative state. Lawyers ensure their medical experts have deep expertise related to the injury mechanisms and diagnosed conditions.
Preparing Medical Experts for Depositions & Trials
In personal injury lawsuits, defense attorneys can depose (interview under oath) the plaintiff’s medical experts. This probing aims to undermine injury claims by identifying contradictory opinions or non-evidence-based speculation.
Plaintiff lawyers prepare their medical experts for depos by explaining legal standards of proof and causation. They also discuss the facts of the case to prevent surprises that could shake the expert’s credibility. Deposition preparation ensures consistency between the written liability reports and verbal testimony.
Similarly, before trials, medical experts require briefing on evidentiary rules, testimony structure, and cross-examination tactics. Plaintiff attorneys prime their experts to clearly convey opinions supporting causation and damages arguments. The lawyer’s case could collapse without persuasive medical testimonies validating the client’s injuries and losses.
Partnering With Reputable Medical Professionals
The strongest brain injury lawsuits feature multiple renowned specialists independently confirming the plaintiff’s claimed harms. Highly credentialed medical experts with volumes of peer-reviewed research carry much greater weight than general practitioners.
To verify credentials, lawyers check state medical boards for disciplinary issues, research academic and professional backgrounds, and scan court records for previous expert witness appearances. Armed with great medical experts, California traumatic brain injury attorneys can maximize claim values and obtain the compensation clients deserve.
