The death of a loved one is always difficult. Sometimes, the circumstances surrounding a death may leave unanswered questions that family members ponder. In some cases, a deceased may have been receiving medical treatment at or around the time of his or her death. If you’ve got questions about your relative’s death for the attending physician and he or she isn’t answering, you may become suspicious that medical malpractice led to the death.
Unfortunately, deaths as a result of medical malpractice – whether the result of error or negligence – occur too frequently in our country. And, as you may likely be able to understand, if a doctor realizes he or she was negligent or made a mistake that caused a patient to die, he or she may be less forthcoming with medical details to the patient’s surviving family members.
If you have lost a spouse, child, parent, sibling, or other relative while he or she was receiving medical treatment, and you feel like you’re getting the runaround from the medical professionals who treated him or her, Dr. Chundru can perform a medical record review. During this process, Dr. Chundru will analyze the associated medical records and give his professional opinion as to whether or not medical malpractice took place. For families considering litigation, this review is the recommended first step before reaching out to legal counsel.
What Is a Medical Record Review?
A medical record review is a process that a trained professional such as board-certified forensic pathologist Dr. Chundru conducts after a person who was receiving medical care dies during or shortly after receiving said treatment. To perform the review, Dr. Chundru needs access to a variety of documents so he can analyze them, including:
- Medical records of the deceased
- Facility records of the location where the deceased was receiving medical treatment
- Communications between the healthcare staff, the healthcare facility, and the family
- Internal communications between the treating healthcare staff and the healthcare facility
When reviewing this information, Dr. Chundru is looking for several key pieces of information, such as:
- Was proper medical protocol ordered?
- Were medical instructions carried out exactly as ordered and in their necessary timeframe?
- Are there any inconsistencies in the documents, especially between what was documented internally and what was communicated to the family?
- Are there any errors in the documentation?
From reviewing all this information, Dr. Chundru can come to a conclusion about whether or not medical malpractice took place.
The Importance of a Medical Record Review When Filing a Medical Malpractice Lawsuit
In order to file a medical malpractice lawsuit, you need to have evidence that the medical care providers and/or medical facility did something wrong. This is exactly the type of information that Dr. Chundru may be able to provide, which makes going through this process a necessary first step before filing litigation.
Providing Answers Even If You Won’t Be Filing a Lawsuit
Even if Dr. Chundru concludes that medical malpractice didn’t take place, a medical record review can help family members achieve closure by providing details about the death that a physician may not be sharing. Knowledge is power, and for some, being able to stop asking “Why?” helps to attain the closure following the loss of a loved one that we all naturally seek.
Contact Dr. Chundru to Learn More
If your family member died while receiving medical care and you feel like the doctors who treated him or her aren’t telling you everything, Dr. Chundru can help.
To learn more about his services, contact his practice today.
