Case Study: Building an Event Timeline to Build a Winnable Case
The challenge
With neither the time nor resources to thoroughly navigate and evaluate more than 7,000 pages of medical records to prepare a wrongful death case, an Indiana attorney turned to us to conduct an Event Chronology — a swift but comprehensive review process that arranges the most relevant facts of a case’s medical, insurance or other detailed records into a meticulous, easy-to-follow timeline.
Spanning the 11-month stay of a nursing home patient who allegedly entered into care without a bedsore, the thousands of pages of records contained details about the eventual discovery of a Stage 4 Decubitus Ulcer that became infected and ultimately led to her death.
Helping a busy attorney turn 7,000+ pages of medical records into 1 simple narrative
The solution
Guidepoint’s team pinpointed documentation throughout the medical records that uncovered the nursing home’s liability: recorded schedules revealed the patient had not been adjusted often enough to avoid bedsores in accordance with standard medical care. Beyond this infraction, the bedsore was first noted at an advanced stage, signaling the patient didn’t receive proper care.
The medical records were organized and indexed for ease of reference, highlighting the key documents pertaining to the incriminating schedules and descriptions – or lack of descriptions – of the allegedly missed wound. Beyond the written report, our doctors delivered a narrative summary by phone to make the findings abundantly clear.
The results
The swift Event Chronology helped the law firm quickly and effectively evaluate the claim, providing a window into the necessary evidence needed to take further action: the attorney sent a demand letter to the nursing home in question, and the dispute was ultimately settled without going to trial.