If you have been unfortunate enough to have been injured in an accident and you wish to pursue a claim for compensation, it is often necessary for your Personal Injury Solicitor to obtain a full set of your medical records.
Whilst this may seem intrusive, it is an essential part of pursuing your claim. Medical records allow us to link the accident to the injury and to make sure any pre- existing conditions or symptoms can be taken into account.
The medical records are usually obtained before we instruct a doctor to prepare a medical report on the injuries sustained in the accident.
Who will see my records?
Remember that your records are only supplied to your solicitor if you provide them with a signed, written authority addressed to the holder of the records. They will only ask for them if they are considered necessary to the claim. In some cases of minor injuries and some road traffic accident claims medical records may not be required.
Your solicitor will have first sight of your records and will begin the task of sorting them into chronological order and reviewing them. They will then be sent directly to the medical expert to review in order to assist in the completion of their report which contains their opinion. Once the expert has reviewed the records they will either return them to your Solicitor to destroy or alternatively the expert will confidentially destroy them. Both Solicitors and medical experts are bound by the General Data Protection Act 2018 and are unable to disclose any information about you to any other person or organisation unless you agree or are ordered by the Court.
It may be necessary, in certain situations, to disclose your medical records to your opponent’s solicitors, insurers or their medical experts. Again, they bound by the Data Protection Act and will be unable to disclose the contents of your records to any other person or organisation without your consent. In rare cases the records may be produced to a Judge if your case reaches a final hearing.
Where there is particularly sensitive information contained in your medical records that is not relevant to your claim, for example, names of people you are related to, this information may, if required by you, be removed from your records before they are disclosed. Usually, GPs and hospitals will redact references to third parties in your medical notes as their details cannot be disclosed without their express consent.
Your medical records will never become public in the course of a Personal Injury claim, so if your Solicitor asks for them there is usually a good reason for doing so. Any person or organisation that sees copies in connection with your claim will have to follow the rules of very strict rules of legal privilege and the Data Protection Act and should never disclose details to others not connected with the case.
If you have any doubts or queries about the disclosure of your medical records consult your Personal Injury Solicitor directly.
If you require any advice about any type of Personal Injury claim please contact our expert team of lawyers on 0114 218 4000 or email info@tayloremmet.co.uk
0 Comments