One of the key duties of a paralegal in the area of personal injury litigation is reviewing an individual’s medical records. In fact, in almost every aspect of law, a paralegal is asked to review medical, employment or scholastic records at some point in time. These records are important in determining the value of a case. In most instances, these very records serve to substantiate the claim of injuries by a plaintiff or, in the very same case, are used by the defense to evaluate the severity of a claim.
Cases involving issues of medical malpractice, personal injury or workers’ compensation, for example, hinge upon the ability of a paralegal to extract the subjective, objective, assessment and plan information from the medical records. As noted below, while these facts are crucial to the litigation or evaluation of the case, it is equally important to scratch below the surface to uncover other significant information to support or defend the claim.
