Personal injury medical legal report

maggie1947

Hi
when sent for a medical legal report by solicitor,does the consultant have all the medical notes in advance of the appointment ?

DullGreyGuy

Depends on the sequencing but not normally

maggie1947

I seen 1 few weeks back and was in and out in 10mins,even though mine was a complex injury.
do they write the report them self or does there legal secretary do up the report?

DullGreyGuy

Being cynical, most almost have templates and just mail merge your details in and correct the duration and dates. I know more than one claimant who said their report included a host of information in the "impact" section that neither was discussed at the time nor had any reality to it.

Being less cynical, a doctor will dictate and a secretary/typing pool will convert the voice recording to text (or maybe AI these days)

maggie1947

How long would of take to write up a report?
you would think a consultant would have all the medical notes before the claimant has there appointment with them..
would a solicitor not forward them all on after making the appointment?

DullGreyGuy

maggie1947 said:

How long would of take to write up a report?
you would think a consultant would have all the medical notes before the claimant has there appointment with them..
would a solicitor not forward them all on after making the appointment?

Depends on how busy the consultant is... there are clearly some that are very popular and over estimate how many cases they can do and provide a reasonable turnaround time. 

The reality is each case is different, each solicitors firm is different, each timeline is different. You have to remember that the majority of claims are for whiplash and other soft tissue injuries and in many cases the claimant hasnt seen their GP or any other form of doctor plus can be seen by the consultant months after the impacts have ended. GP records in that case just confirms any underlying conditions or previous history that may mean the injury was just an acceleration/exacerbation of something already there (though the eggshell skull rule also applies)

Ultimately if you want to know for your case its best to ask your solicitor what will happen. 

maggie1947

I tried contacting the solicitor,but he out of the office today..
So when the report is written out,does the solicitor forward on to the otherside solicitor/insurance and then will they send me to there own consultant?

DullGreyGuy

maggie1947 said:

I tried contacting the solicitor,but he out of the office today..
So when the report is written out,does the solicitor forward on to the otherside solicitor/insurance and then will they send me to there own consultant?

No, they'll send it to you first then the third party insurer/solicitor. In most cases the third party wont get to appoint their own consultant.

maggie1947

but if the consultants have the medical notes/history in front of them,should the medical report not be written out in a day?
why is people saying it takes a few weeks?

DullGreyGuy

maggie1947 said:

but if the consultants have the medical notes/history in front of them,should the medical report not be written out in a day?
why is people saying it takes a few weeks?

Because they'll do half a dozen sessions a day plus their NHS work plus their other private work. Once you've had the appointment the money is in the bag for the doc and its just a case of finding dead gaps in the diary to get round to dictating the report. 

They may also say they need more time to consider your notes, research other cases to make a recovery prognosis etc but as mentioned before, most cases are close to carbon copies of each other  

maggie1947

DullGreyGuy said:

maggie1947 said:

I tried contacting the solicitor,but he out of the office today..
So when the report is written out,does the solicitor forward on to the otherside solicitor/insurance and then will they send me to there own consultant?

No, they'll send it to you first then the third party insurer/solicitor. In most cases the third party wont get to appoint their own consultant.

I thought My solicitor will get sent a copy and then me,if all is ok,they send the defendants solicitor/insurance a copy.
will the otherside then not send me to there own “independent consultants “ to argue against the injury?