If a hospital loses your medical records after you’ve been injured, your case becomes more complicated, but not impossible. Missing records can raise red flags about the quality of care and even lead to legal consequences for the hospital. Likewise, if records appear to have been altered, such as when key details are changed or removed after the fact, the issue becomes even more serious.
Courts typically view altered or missing records as evidence of misconduct or a cover-up. At Marzella & Associates, our Harrisburg medical malpractice attorneys can help by uncovering alternative evidence, pressing for accountability, and making certain you still have a strong compensation case.
The Importance of Medical Records for Your Harrisburg Malpractice Case
Medical records are more than paperwork. They document your diagnosis, treatment decisions, medications, and the hospital staff’s response to complications. In Pennsylvania, hospitals must retain patient records for at least 7 years, and federal HIPAA rules require providers to safeguard and share them upon request.
When those records are lost, it undermines your ability to prove what went wrong. When they are changed, it may point to an attempt to hide negligence. Either way, it can strengthen your case rather than weaken it since courts take missing or altered evidence very seriously.
Your case can still move forward, even without complete hospital records. Other forms of evidence can include:
- Insurance and billing records showing the care you paid for
- Pharmacy logs verifying what medications were dispensed
- Lab and imaging reports, which are often stored separately
- Electronic audit trails, which reveal who accessed or modified records and when
- Witness testimony from family or staff present at the time
Fortunately, a Harrisburg medical malpractice lawyer knows how to track down these sources, identify inconsistencies, and prove your case even without the hospital’s cooperation.
How Lost or Altered Medical Records Can Help Your Case
If records are missing or altered in violation of the law, state law also addresses the spoliation of evidence. This means juries can infer that lost or tampered records would have been unfavorable to the hospital. For instance, if your surgical report disappears after you suffer complications, a jury may assume the report confirmed errors during the procedure.
Altered records can have even more weight in court. If audit logs or handwriting changes show someone altered your chart after the fact, a judge may allow the jury to treat that as deliberate misconduct. This can increase the value of your claim and open the door to punitive damages.
Legal Strategy: How We Prove Hospital Negligence
Hospitals rarely admit to losing or altering records. A Harrisburg malpractice lawyer can demand electronic audit logs that reveal whether records were deleted or changed. They can likewise retain experts to analyze handwriting, timestamps, and chart inconsistencies and file motions to hold hospitals accountable for spoliation or tampering. Additionally, they can rebuild your case using outside records and testimony.
Most importantly, a lawyer ensures that tampering or negligence doesn’t block your path to justice and maximum compensation.
Get Legal Help from Our Skilled Malpractice Attorneys
If you or a loved one were injured and your medical records are missing or appear altered, reach out to Marzella & Associates and schedule your free case assessment online or at 717-876-8681. Hospitals are legally required to protect your records, and when they fail, our Harrisburg law firm can help you hold them liable for your losses.