If you are a Plaintiff in an employment or injury case, in which your medical records are part of the evidence in your case, it’s highly likely that the attorney who takes your deposition will be asking you questions about your medical records. There are two main reasons why the lawyer representing an employer or an insurance company will be asking you these questions:
(1) to clarify certain things in the records they may not understand or which might be missing in order to get a more complete picture of your case; and
(2) to try to get you to say something that would hurt your credibility and will make you sound less trustworthy to court or jury in order to undermine your case. Here are a few typical examples:
(a) The lawyer who takes your deposition might have seen in your medical records that you reported experiencing pain of 5 on a scale of 1 to 10 upon admission to an emergency room or any other medical facility. At your deposition, he is going to ask you to rate your pain at the time of admission to that hospital. If you, for instance, say that your pain was 9 or 10, this lawyer is going to be able to argue later that you exaggerate your pain now because that’s not what you reported back at the hospital, and therefore you are not to believed when it comes to your other testimony as well, even if this testimony was an innocent mistake, and you simply didn’t remember what your pain actually was when you were discussing it with the hospital personnel.
(b) The lawyer might ask you how much time you spent in the emergency room. If you say “all day” and the records show that you only spent there 2-3 hours, this will also allow that lawyer to argue that you exaggerate not just the length of your stay at a hospital, but also other things.
(c) The lawyer might ask you how many times you have seen your physical therapist, or a chiropractor, or a neurologist. Again, if the records show that you have seen a certain specialist five times, but you say you have seen them twenty times, it’s going to make you look like you are trying to falsely inflate your claim and your damages.
Avoiding the above problem is easy. Be sure to review your medical records. You don’t have to memorize every detail of your records, but at least refresh your memory about the key parts of your injury, pain symptoms, and treatment. And, during your deposition – if you are not sure of something, say so. Your can provide your best estimate when answering a question, if you can. If, however, you really don’t remember and you are not able to even provide an approximate answer, then simply say that you don’t know or you don’t remember.
Your credibility is one of the most important things in your case. If you follow the above advice, it will help you maintain your credibility and not make common mistakes that many other plaintiffs make when testifying about their medical records.