How Can Medical Records Strengthen Your Injury Claim?

If you’ve been injured due to someone else’s negligence, you have the right to bring a claim to get compensation for what you’ve lost. One of the most important parts of your claim will be your medical records. Talk to an injury attorney in Long Island right away to get more detail details on your specific situation.

By Linking the Injury to the Accident

The first important role of your medical records is to show that the injuries you’re suffering are connected to the accident. The sooner you visit a doctor after the accident, the clearer this link will be, and it will also help if your doctor has noted in the records that your injuries are consistent with the type of accident you suffered. Never delay getting medical care after an accident. If there’s too long a delay, the other side and their insurance company may try to argue that your injuries are unrelated to the accident.

By Giving a Firm Number to Your Economic Losses

In a personal injury claim, you’ll be asking for compensation for your economic losses or damages. These damages need to be quantified with firm numbers, and your medical records will back up your bills and receipts for medical care and show what was provided to verify that your numbers are correct. Medical bills are often the biggest part of any personal injury claim, so it’s crucial to get this right.

By Boosting Your Non-Economic Losses

Non-economic losses are sometimes referred to as “pain and suffering,” and these losses are all difficult to calculate. Pain, mental anguish, loss of enjoyment of life, anxiety: how do you put a number on these things? The courts have found that the best way to deal with it is to calculate your non-economic losses as a percentage of your economic ones. The most common method of doing this is to tabulate all your economic losses and then multiply the total by a number between one and five. The more serious your injuries are and the harder your recovery, the higher that second number will be.

Your medical records thus serve two important functions in boosting your total for non-economic losses. First, the higher your medical bills and the higher your economic losses, the bigger that first number, which you’ll multiply by one, two, three, four, or five. Second, your medical records will show what you’ve actually undergone in terms of treatment and recovery. Your medical records will thus be an important way of deciding whether you multiply your economic damages by one, five, or a number in between.

Your medical records are a key part of your personal injury claim, but they’re not the only thing to consider. Talk to us today at Miller, Montiel & Strano in Garden City, NY for help with your claim. We serve Long Island and Nassau County and are committed to treating each client like a person: not like a number. .

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