For any personal injury case, providing medical documents as evidence is fundamental. However, sometimes this can be a daunting task. The following steps will help you obtain the medical records needed to prove your case. If you have hired a competent personal injury attorney, the attorney will gather your records for you. You will only need to provide the names of all your doctors or other health care providers.
1. Request the medical documents from your doctor.
Call your doctor’s office to request your medical records. Because this information is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), you will need to sign a release form to obtain your records. The office might also charge you a fee per page of your records.
2. Use discovery process to get other party’s medical records.
The discovery process is the disclosure of all pertinent facts and documents to the other side. To do this, make a Request for Production (RFP). If the other party denies you the information, you may use a subpoena.
3. Using a subpoena to attain medical records from providers.
A civil suit usually doesn’t share all medical records in court, but you can use a subpoena to request that certain records be shared. The court will first review the documents for protected material under HIPAA, and then both parties may view the records. Although the opposing side may argue to disregard the subpoena for privacy concerns, the Judge makes the final decision whether it is relevant and will be allowed.
At Ray Hodge & Associates, we believe in personal injury handled personally. At our office you see a lawyer from the very first meeting because we believe your case deserves an experienced personal injury attorney right from the start.
If you have had a Kansas personal injury that was not your fault and need medical treatment, you need an experienced professional who can help you get back on the road to recovery. Call us today at 316-269-1414 or visit our contact page here. Our Kansas personal injury attorneys will provide you a free initial consultation and if we take your case you don’t pay a dime unless we recover money for you. Even then we only take a percentage of the total amount of your recovery.
If you have questions on what you should be looking for when you are making a decision to hire a Kansas personal injury lawyer, read our article located here.
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Ray Hodge & Associates proudly represents victims and their families across the state of Kansas, including Wichita, Andover, Derby, Goddard, Haysville, Mulvane, Rose Hill, Newton, El Dorado and Hutchinson. Call today for a free consultation all over the state of Kansas. We have proudly served clients in Sedgwick, Butler, Sumner, Harvey, Kingman and Reno Counties.