Using your medical records in support of your injury claim

It is usually the case that a medical expert would have sight of your medical records when conducting an assessment with you. However, you should not be overly concerned as the records can still be presented to the expert to review and for them to cross reference in any report that they provide.

Have you spoken with your Solicitor regarding the mistakes made by the A&E/GP medics when noting your symptoms initially?

Yes I told them that is not what I said in the emergency and gp.

Your Solicitor should attempt to explain the discrepancies to the 3rd party and point out that these errors are not of your doing and are not due to fraud or wilful dishonesty.

You could also contact the NHS Medical records department to seek that they correct the entry and point out the problems that their mistake is causing you.

I contact them and they said is nothing to do anymore, already is in the system

Your Solicitor should be seeking to resolve this for you.

Thank you for your help. I appreciate a lot

In short, yes. Whilst many people feel anxious about the release of medical history, it is important that the records are checked to see if there is any previous history of problems with the injured area that may impact on the claim. Your Solicitor is duty bound to maintain the utmost privacy and data protection regarding your medical records and the documents must be handled securely.

If the medical assessment you were having was for ALL of the injuries sustained, it should last longer and be more thorough than the one you appear to have had. However, if there was just a query about one specific injury or range of movement, the process could be quicker.

You should certainly flag this up with the relevant person dealing with your claim. Do so in writing and demand written responses.

Surely your Solicitor can ask the specialist to clarify why they do not believe that the tear in question is linked to the index incident? Seeking a medical experts report & prognosis is an essential part of the process of claiming personal injury compensation (as it is the medical experts report that forms the basis of injury value), there is always the risk that the contents of the report can be damaging to a claimant. In the case where an expert doesn’t provide a particularly supportive report, a claimant is somewhat stuck. Whilst you could seek a 2nd experts report, there is no requirement for a defendant to accept the 2nd report and there is no guarantee that it would differ from the first experts report either. Further, you would not be able to recover the cost of a 2nd report, whereas you can with the 1st report. As such, seeking clarification from the medical expert (bearing in mind your medical records should show that you have not sought treatment for any similar pain or issues previously) is the best course of action.

Thank you for your response. I asked my solicitors to inform the expert that there was a detail incorrect on the report and asked the question how he had come to the conclusion regarding the annual tear when documentation and MRI confirmed the exact place I had reported the pain since the day of the accident, I was seen by a GP 4 days after the accident and have seen 3 medical experts since the accident, all 3 plus my own GP have agreed to soft tissue injury in the area. He has totally ignored the question and just changed the incorrect information, my solicitor has said we cannot do anything about this and he does not have to answer any questions put to him. The third party insurers have seen the 2 previous reports, all my GP reports and the MRI scan, will they have to take all this information into account when valuing the claim or just the latest one from the spine specialist?

The insurers will have to consider the evidence set out in all medical reports received and reach a balanced point of view.

Have you asked the Psychiatrist that you saw to provide written confirmation that you did raise the car accident with them?

I wasn’t aware that i could do this? I no longer see the psychiatrist so would I still be able to ask them?

You can request this from the psychiatrist, but you may have to pay a fee for their time or a written report.

You’re right, it shouldn’t take such a long period to release your medical records and it usually doesn’t take this amount of time. Occasionally we do come across departments or that are painfully slow in acting on any request for patient information.

Anything you can do to help to speed up the process – by contacting your GP surgery and the medical records people to get the records sent to you or the medical company will only help your Solicitor to move things forward more quickly would be beneficial to you and your claim.

When you the medical experts report is provided, your Solicitor will provide you with a copy and ask you to confirm whether you are happy with the contents. Assuming you are, the report will be handed to the defendants and they can then respond accordingly. Whilst they are allowed to seek a further report, this is unlikely and that can’t do it just to delay the process unduly. In most cases, once the medical report is received and agreed by both parties, the Solicitor and Defendant will begin discussing an appropriate settlement and move to get the case settled and closed.

You do not need to ask the Hospital or your GP for a copy of any report and you do not need one to make a claim, however you should make sure that your employer has an accident book record of the accident.

Have you spoken to your Solicitor about the error that their handling of this part of your claim has caused? It would appear that your Solicitor has at least contributed to a potential undermining of your claim through negligence. With that in mind, you should discuss this with the Solicitor and if they are unwilling to do anything about it, formally complain to the firm.

Obtaining medical records from a GP surgery for the purposes of a personal injury claim should be an easy process, but on many occasions, GP surgeries fail to release the medical records in a timely fashion and take some chasing and repeated requests to pass the information over! This is quite a problem at the moment, but the GP surgeries have a duty to make sure that medical records are passed to people with the authority to view them.

One thing we have found to help greatly, is for the claimant to make contact with their surgery and speak nicely with the reception team or GP and express the need for the release to be made.

Whatever you do, don’t just fail to turn up. If you have anxiety issues around any aspect of your claim, make sure that you discuss them fully with your Solicitor. Your Solicitor is there to help you and act in your best interests. Whatever the issue, as long as your Solicitor knows of your concerns or problems, they can help to make sure that those issues don’t damage the prospect of succeeding with your claim.

The defendant can request sight of a claimants medical records. They will do this in order to be certain that there are no pre-existing issues or ongoing problems that were already being dealt with by Doctors as if they can find such evidence they can reduce the amount of compensation that they may have to pay. Whilst this is a totally legitimate request, your friend doesn’t have to agree to their request and she should discuss the request with her Solicitor and seek their advice as to what is best to do.

It is not uncommon for a claimant to note discrepanices, small errors or missing items in a medical experts report. Any such errors should be identified and noted and returned to the expert for amendment of their final report prior to agreeing to the report and sharing the contents with the defendant.

The issue you mention in your specialist report regarding the time off work should be an issue that is easily amended and your employer should be able to provide confirmation of any days of absence at the accident date or afterwards as further evidence.

There is no realistic prospect of switching Solicitors given the nature of No Win No Fee and the fact that a new Solicitor would have to ensure that the previous Solicitor received fees for the work that they have done upon settlement of the claim, making such a move financially unviable for the new Solicitor. With regards to a new medical expert, you can request a 2nd report, but you would have to meet that cost personally (you can’t recover the cost of a 2nd medical report) and there is of course, no guarantee that a new expert would provide a more beneficial report.

If you are not happy with your Solicitor and their handling of this issue (or any other element of the claim), you should make a formal complaint to them in order that a senior partner within that firm investigates your concerns and hopefully resolves it for you.

It is most likely that the MIB have only received the medical experts report and not copies of the medical records. The record request is a standard matter and should not be something that you are concerned about. The reason that the MIB will want them is to confirm the nature of the initial treatment and what was reported by your partner on the visits he made. They’ll also want to see if he has any pre-existing injury symptoms that are linked to the injuries for which he is claiming.

The employer can only obtain your medical records with your written consent to do so.

If I say no they want to send me to an occupational health therapist, what would be my best option, there are personal things on my medical records which I don’t want them to see

You are within your rights to withhold personal and unrelated medical information from any party, particularly your employer. In your case, it would probably be wise to advise the employer that you do not wish to disclose your full medical history for personal reasons, but that you are happy to see an occupational health therapist.

Your Solicitor should be able to advise you in this, but in general, there is no reason why the joint expert can’t be used to review your records and answer any specific queries the defendant may raise relating to your medical history or previous injuries relevant to the claim you are pursuing.

When you make a claim for personal injury compensation, the severity of your injury need to be proven, also a defendant needs to know that your injury was not present BEFORE the index incident for which you are making your claim. Therefore, a defendant checking your medical record history to confirm that you have not previously complained of the injury that forms the basis of your claim is valid and fair.

There is no reason for your Husband to have any concerns about disclosing his medical records to his Solicitor. The only elements of relevance within his medical history will be any previous medical treatments for injuries that form any part of his claim. For example, if your Husband injured his back in the accident, his medical records could show that he had a previous episode of back pain 10 years previously. If this were the case, the defendant insurer would be within their rights to query whether the previous ‘injury’ or issue was linked to the new one and needed to be considered when settling the claim.

His medical records will not be made available for public view – only by the two sides who are being represented in his claim.

Without release of his medical records, he will receive some compensation but the value of his settlement is likely to be far, far lower than it should be if his medical records were made available to support his claim.

If you have any relevant issues regarding problems with your neck, that could be seen as relevant and may be called in to question. However, if you have lived years symptom free with no medical intervention, you probably won’t have any concerns.