Exercise makes people strong and healthy. Most of the Americans have gym memberships and make use of gym as part of their regular routine. Are you safe in the gym? The statistics says otherwise. In 2021, around 409,230 people got injured from exercise equipment. This is the highest injury causing factor among all.
If injured, how to substantiate your gym injury claim? Your medical records can play a vital role in proving your claim. A medical record review service for attorneys can do a thorough review of your medical records and unearth the vital facts that can bolster your claim.
The important thing you must do after a gym accident is seeking treatment as it would make your claim more valid. Inform your physician about your injuries and symptoms with the pain levels. The accurate documentation of your damages with the time can substantiate that your injuries occurred from the gym equipment failure.
Before analyzing how medical record review can assist you in winning claims, we have to know the causes and consequences of gym accidents.
Gym equipment injuries and their causes
Gym equipment injuries may range from minor sprains to horrible life-altering injuries or death. Let’s see the list of common injuries that occur in gyms.
- Head and neck injuries
- Ankle or foot injuries
- Shoulder injuries
- Back injuries
- Strains or fractures
- Amputations
- Facial injuries and abrasions
The above-listed injuries can occur due to variety of causes. Human as well as machine errors contribute to such injuries.
The common causes can be
- Faulty equipment
- Equipment installation defects
- Negligent trainers
- Negligent users
- Negligent maintenance staff
If you are planning to sue the gym owner or the manufacturer, you ensure that the cause and time of the injury is recorded in the medical records. Note down all your pain symptoms and pain levels with each provider and the data should be consistent. Giving different data to different providers may make your claim look like cooked-up story.
Who can be held liable for gym equipment injuries?
If your gym injury is caused by a faulty gym equipment, you can sue the manufacturer under product liability claim. In certain cases the defects in the design itself, or the easily breakable parts can make the equipment faulty and lead to injuries. Failing to add instructions to use also can make the manufacturers liable for your injuries.
If the installation defects caused the injuries, the company or the people who installed the equipment the equipment can be held accountable.
You can file a premises liability claim, if the gym area is cluttered or slippery due to the negligence of the maintenance people. The cleaning staff and the gym owners are liable if anyone get injured in the gym premises.
Personal injury claim can be filed if the negligent trainers or the co-users caused the injury. The trainers are responsible to monitor the users while they handle the gym equipment. If the users are not properly instructed to use the equipment and it led to the injury, the trainers are responsible.
Everyone who uses the gym has the duty to handle the equipment with care. If an equipment overturns and injures you, the team that installed can be sued. But if you mishandled the equipment or failed to heed to the safety instructions of the staff and got injured, it would be difficult for you to get reparation.
Even if you have signed a liability waiver with the gym, you may have the chances of claiming for your injuries. Contacting an experiences attorney can help you identify the possibility of pursuing a lawsuit despite having signed the waiver.
How effectively a medical record review can benefit your claim?
An efficient medical record review team can support the personal injury attorneys in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the gym equipment injury claim.
The attorneys will have hectic work to complete all the legal procedures of the claim. Some gym injuries can be serious and the victim had to undergo a series of therapies, treatments, surgeries or other rehabilitation sessions for a long period. Digging through these voluminous medical records for vital points will be herculean task for the attorneys amidst their busy schedule.
In such a scenario, the role of a medical record review firm gains importance. They can help the attorneys in the multiple facets of the legal processes. An experienced medical record review partner can shoulder the attorneys in their claims in the below ways.
- They examine the victim’s medical records to determine the extent of his or her injuries.
- They distinguish between quantifiable injuries caused by an incident and preexisting conditions.
- They support in comprehending the extent of the injuries sustained.
- They even make recommendations for and hire medical experts.
- They examine medical records for evidence of the personal injury.
- They identify the case-related medical records that are missing.
- They unearth the inconsistencies in the records.
- They can identify how far the pre-existing conditions are exacerbated by the gym mishap.
An extensive medical record review team leaves no stones unturned and considers even a minor record that could turn the course of the litigation.
Usually the following factors decide the value of personal injury claim.
- Severity of the gym injury
- Medical expenses
- Pain and suffering
- Future care needed
- Lost income and loss of earning capacity
- Recovery time
- Defendant’s liability
- Disability
- Death
A well-experienced medical record review team analyzes the medical records considering all the above aspects and finds the evidence related to them.
Since the medical records are reviewed and presented chronologically, an attorney can easily identify the factors led to the accident, causes, treatment course and the future care needed from the concise medical record review report that pinpoints all the key factors.
Since all the records are sorted and indexed and hyperlinked with the summary reports, attorneys can peruse the needed records with just a click in times of need.
Filing the claim within the statutes of limitation makes a claim valid. A medical record review company does the time-consuming review in a short period and assists the attorneys to steer forward the claim on time.
To conclude,
If gym visits and use of gym equipment is part and parcel of your life, you cannot sometimes avoid gym injuries even if you are more careful in handling the equipment. Seeking medical attention as well as legal counsel on time will help you claim for your damages. Having an experienced medical record review company to shoulder with your attorney can ensure your compensation.
Think well and proceed to bag your claim!