BarbriSFCourseDetails

Course Details

This CLE webinar will discuss medical record falsification in nursing home cases: what it is and what it is not, how to detect and expose it, and how to use it.

Faculty

Description

Not much will inspire a jury more to punish the defendant than finding out someone has falsified nursing home medical records to cover up patient neglect or bad outcomes. Even more so if future caregivers relied on false records to make treatment decisions. But falsification happens more frequently than many attorneys realize, notwithstanding the advent of electronic medical records.

Often people falsifying medical records want to make it as difficult as possible to spot, so counsel reviewing these records have to know what constitutes "badges" of falsification. Honest updates to medical records with appropriate dates and explanations may well be necessary, so it is important to recognize what types of changes in records are and are not concerning.

If falsification is suspected, then plaintiff's counsel needs to have a strategic, pre-planned course of action to expose it and use it for maximum effect.

Listen as this panel offers guidance on the signs of record falsification, when and how to investigate, and how to strategically use evidence of falsification.

Outline

  1. Defining falsification of medical records
  2. Reasons for falsification
  3. Frequently falsified categories of data
  4. What to look for to uncover falsification
  5. Strategies for savvy investigation
  6. Using evidence of falsification
  7. Addressing explanations, defenses, or mitigation arguments

Benefits

The panel will review these and other key issues:

  • How should necessary modifications to the medical record be made and documented?
  • Who is normally authorized to make changes?
  • What issues arise when the persons making fraudulent changes cannot be found?