Our attorney is making us run all over the place and obtain our medical records. When you do this for a lawsuit they charge you per page and it's turning out to be costly.
Is this normal practice?
Just an FYI we have had a lot of trouble with this attorney even before this issue.
Thanks
Ok this is on a contingency basis. My understanding is he is hired to do the legal work and is going to be paid quite well for it.
Furthermore, his website claims they do all the legwork, why are we doing it for him?
I am going to demand that OUR time be reimbursed from HIS payment.
As far as HIPPA laws are concerned .... We signed release documents a year ago so he could request our records.
firewomen
No it is not normal. If you can get another attorney.*
CeciliaM
The attorney needs any and all medical records as evidence of the injury you sustained. Some attorneys will make the requests on your behalf, but because attorneys are charged per page the same way you are, some prefer to just have you do it as a way of cutting costs.
Slappy
Yeah...they are YOUR records. HIPAA protects the privacy of these records, so it is a whole lot easier for you to get them than for him to get them.
Besides, whether he got them or you did, you would still end up paying for them...
J P
If the attorney did it, it would be charged as a "cost" and that would either be deducted from your award if you won, or you would owe it to the attorney if you lose. If you lose, you still have to pay costs, even if the attorney is working on a contigency basis. It's way, way cheaper for you to do this yourself.
Onemind
I don't believe that you should be doing this. Attorneys have access to companies that specialize in obtaining medical records. If the records are for your attorney, you simply sign an authorization for release. This is then supplied to the copy service and they go to the doctor with the release and obtain the records. They will charge the attorney for the service. And it is usually quicker.
If the records are for the opposing attorney, they are able to obtain a document, a subpeona duces tecum (SDT), which is a legal document that requires the release of documents required in a case. It is required by law that all parties of a dispute must have access to all documents pertaining to the case. This can become complicated and there can be huge quantities of documents, and copies of documents, for a single case.
For this reason most attorneys use the copy service companies. I would be asking your attorney why he is not using such a service.
I hope this is helpful.
Common
Its not the norm, but its not unheard of. Consider the alternative; if the attorney was doing it, he'd be charging you for it. Do you really want to spend $ 200 an hour for the attorney to run errands? And believe me, he would be passing the copying charge along to you as well.
Now if he's on a contingency basis, then he's doing it because he doesn't want to waste time on it that could be devoted to other tasks. He gets 1/3 of any settlement or verdict. That number is the same regardless of whether he does 100 hours of work or 10. Naturally, any businessman will try and get the maximum amount of money for the minimum amount of work.
Orignal From: Is it expected that the victim in a personal injury lawsuit get all the medical records for the attorney?
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