ARTHROSCOPIC KNEE SURGERY
To best represent his client a personal injury lawyer must have in his possession some knowledge about arthroscopic knee surgery. Being a learned friend, he is not only required to know the law as it is but he is expected to know the law and conduct research about a particular subject and relate it with the law. In this particular case, that would be; arthroscopic knee surgery.
Taking the assumption that the personal injury lawyer as his name depicts him, he will be representing the injured client in this case scenario, he is supposed to know quite a number of facts as regard to his client’s medical history and with particular emphasis on his medical knee history.
Understanding what arthroscopic knee injury is would be a good start for the personal injury lawyer.
Arthroscopic Knee Surgery – It is a common orthopedic surgical procedure performed by an orthopedist (specialist in bone and joint diseases).It involves the use of an arhtroscope that contains a lighted video camera on the end and is wired to the television screen that the surgeon watches while moving the scope to pinpoint the exact knee problem.
Second, he as the personal injury lawyer for the patient in this case is expected to know when such a procedure is prescribed.
Arthroscopic Knee Surgery is prescribed when a doctor feels that a particular knee injury is serious and the doctor needs to use other diagnosis equipment apart from the use of the X-ray or the MRI procedures or he can diagnose the particular knee problem but cannot treat it and has to refer the patient to go for an arthroscopic knee surgery.
Third he must also know for what purposes is it intended for and to who is it best performed on and the major advantages and disadvantages of the particular procedure. It is at this juncture that the personal injury lawyer ought to inquire if there were better and safer alternatives to the arthroscopic knee injury.
Arthroscopic Knee Surgery has its purpose as diagnosis of a knee injury, treatment of a meniscus tear and a cartilage tear. Therefore where it is found that the knee injury was an injury not related to or are a meniscus tear (cartilage tear), competence and credibility of the doctor will be put into question and therefore making malpractice a ground to sue on. Nonetheless, arthroscopic knee surgery is a common orthopedic surgical procedure, therefore meaning that it is the most trusted and safer alternative to the open knee surgery. It has its advantages as decreasing post operative pain, decreasing of recovery time and has less scarring on the patient. This being the case, it is therefore recommended for professional athletes who the shortest recovery time is of utmost importance to them after an injury and to professional models to who a surgical procedure that involves less scarring or no scarring at all is of benefit to them.
At this juncture, the personal injury lawyer must be careful to note that the doctor can not make a surgical prescription to the client without the client’s consent. Therefore such a procedure can only be undertaken after the client has consented. Yet again issues of the health of the patient will also be taken into consideration and also age will play a major role. The procedure will be best recommended for an older person who is not able to heal naturally after some few weeks of knee exercises
Having understood all that is related to an arthroscopic knee surgery, the personal injury lawyer is expected to prove where it is in dispute that his client who is the patient herein was not the cause of the accident that led to him having arthroscopic knee surgery performed on him but rather it was the fault of another or just a simple act of God therefore deserving compensation. If he seeks compensation as a result of malpractice then he must have in his possession alternative medical opinion from an equally qualified doctor to the one that he so seeks to sue.
With such compensation it is obvious that the insurance will be involved and therefore it is prudent that the personal injury lawyer in representing his client ensures that all the necessary documentation as regard to evidence of the arthroscopic knee surgery is evident and more so the medical bills that had to be paid to make the arthroscopic knee surgery possible.
This therefore means that to be fully compensated, the client who in this case is the patient who underwent an arthroscopic knee surgery must have all his medical records in his possession and all other medical bills so as to get proper and fair compensation in his favor.
The personal injury lawyer must be aware that it is not all cases of arthroscopic knee surgery turn out to be successful and unfortunate for some patient they do not experience the quick recovery so associated with the arthroscopic knee surgery while for others the procedure has to be repeated again. The reasons for such mishaps cannot be blamed on the doctor as recovery depends and vary from one patient to another though such mishaps can be used in favor of the patient. The personal injury lawyer can adduce evidence of such mishaps so as to persuade the honorable court that the amount prayed for as damages is just, fair and deserved by the patient as the arthroscopic knee surgery has not only caused the patient financial stress ad strains but also emotional stress and strains leaving him at a state of psychological imbalance.
In the end, the personal injury lawyer can only best represent his client the patient herein if the client has in his possession all the required medical documents and medical bills as pertaining to the arthroscopic knee surgery. Furthermore, if representing the doctor, he needs to prove is that the doctor got consent from the patient who fully understood the benefits and risks of the arthroscopic knee procedure, that the reputation as regards to the competence of the doctor is solid and finally, the diagnosis was correct and the arthroscopic knee surgery was performed to treat the right knee problem the patient had.