There is a substantial number of attorneys who litigate personal injury cases who need your help. I see many LNCs marketing exclusively to medical malpractice attorneys, overlooking an even larger pool of attorneys who represent plaintiffs or defendants in personal injury cases.
Frankly, your marketing materials that explain how you can identify the standards of care leave the personal injury attorney thinking you are not talking to him.
How do you help an attorney with a personal injury case? I remember hearing a long time ago that if you can handle a medical malpractice case, you can certainly help with a personal injury case. I found that to be true.
Skills Needed to Help an Attorney with a Personal Injury Case
You need to be
- Analytical
- Detail oriented
- Able to do research
There are the same skills you need to help with a medical malpractice case, right?
Here’s what attorneys often want to know:
- What were the plaintiff’s injuries?
- What pre-existing conditions did the plaintiff have?
- Was the plaintiff involved in another similar injury before or after the one in litigation?
- Did the pre-existing conditions worsen after the injury?
- What were the consequences of the injuries?
- Were there complications?
- At what point did the plaintiff reach maximal medical improvement?
- What is the plaintiff’s prognosis?
- Did the plaintiff cooperate with medical treatment?
Your ability to pull out specific facts from the medical records is key. Your client wants to be informed of issues you spot in the medical record. For example,
- Did the plaintiff have drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of the injury?
- What did the plaintiff complain of after the injury?
- Was there a loss of consciousness?
- If this was a motor vehicle accident, was the plaintiff wearing a seatbelt?
Work Product
Your client may find any or all of these report formats to be helpful in understanding the medical issues:
- Timeline of key events
- Chronology of care
- Medical summary
- Medical literature search and summary
Above all, your client does not like to be surprised by information the client did not tell him, or by knowledge his adversary has about the plaintiff. If there is damaging information in the medical records, it is your job to find it.
You can be of great help to an attorney handling a personal injury case. Use your analytical, detailed oriented skills to make the mound of medical records into a useful work product that will save your client time and increase his understanding.
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