Personal Injury Law

Trial Evidence in Missouri Personal Injury Cases: Medical Experts to Prove Personal Injury, Extent of Injury, Necessary Treatement and Causation

By Benjamin J. Sansone, Esq.

To many victims of Missouri personal injury accidents, the cause is obvious and the medical treatment required seems obvious as well. However, at trial even these seemingly assumed things must be proven by qualified experts. Common example, a Missouri car crash resulting in severe injuries wherein the fault of one driver is clear. Beyond proving the other driver was liable, at trial, the Missouri injury lawyer for the victim must prove with competent evidence that the injured client's injuries were caused from the collision and that the medical treatment received was reasonable and necessary to treat those injuries. Moreover, and more a subject of different articles on this blog, the injured party must prove the amount of medical bills were reasonable and necessary. See Missouri Personal Injury Law - Medical Damages Amount of Bills Paid or Amount Charged

In some cases where the medical treatment necessitated was immediate, the issue of causation is presumed under the Sudden Onset Rule: Under this Missouri personal injury rule, causation may be inferred by the jury without medical testimony. Tucker v. Wibbenmeyer, 901 S.W.2d 350 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995). Sudden onset rule applies when obvious symptoms of an injury follows immediately after an accident without delay or a very short delay. Examples of where the sudden onset rule can be used in lieu of medical testimony, a person involved in a Missouri car accident immediately sustains a broken bone or open wound.

In most cases, especially where the injuries and symptoms require months and months of medical treatment, it is wise, if not legally required, to have at least one of the medical providers testify as to the necessity of the medical treatment received and that the injuries were all caused from the accident. Also, it is usually best to depose the most qualified doctor that treated the injured victim or the doctor that performed the last treatment of them. This is because a doctor can rely on the other medical records as a history and opine as the the necessity of that treatment - i.e. a surgeon and testify that the treatment an injured party received in the ER and that it was reasonable and necessary, also they can rely on those ER records as part of their diagnosis of the victim.

This will ensure that all of the Plaintiff's medical treatment is admitted into evidence and considered by a jury.

Full post as published by Missouri Injury Law Blog on February 03, 2011 (boomark / email).