Our firm recently and successfully resolved a substantial malpractice case involving the failure to treat a post-operative infection which almost resulted in the patient losing a limb. The client repeatedly saw his surgeon after the procedure and complained of drainage, redness, pain, swelling. All are indications of infection. And guess what? The surgeon’s office notes failed to record any of the patient’s complaints of drainage, swelling and redness. Fortunately for our client (and unknown by his surgeon), he had a family member take photos on his iPhone of what his surgical wound looked like at the time of each office visit.
The photographs were critical to the successful resolution of the case. Without them, the case would have come down to the doctor’s version of what the surgical wound looked like as documented in his office notes versus the patient’s recollections/recall of what the wound looked like. Those types of disputes are rarely resolved successfully for the patient.
My Take: Always, always, always take dated photographs of wounds and other medical problems that can be accurately captured with photographs.