Understanding Medical Records

One thing that doctors and lawyers have in common is horrendous handwriting. Reviewing medical records can often be cumbersome and involved. First, the records may be poorly copied resulting portions of the page being entirely illegible. Next, the handwriting itself can be indistinguishable. Finally, if one is able to accurately make out any letters or numbers it becomes clear that medical records are entirely dependent upon codes and abbreviations.

This difficulty can become increasingly frustrating considering medical records are crucial for any medical malpractice case. It is important to know what each line of a record says to be able to fully understand the care that was, or in some situations was not, given. Although an experienced medical malpractice lawyer has become familiar with many of the abbreviations used, they can change from region to region and even hospital to hospital. It is important to have the ability to translate medical abbreviation quickly and easily to make sense of many medical records. Fortunately, there are many sites on the internet that help with this process. Some include MediLexicon, Abbreviations.com, and even Wikipedia.