How Accurate Are Medical Animations in Personal Injury Claims?

 

All personal injury cases center around the losses or damages suffered by a plaintiff. In these cases, it is a type of injury. Medical animations can be used to explain complicated medical processes and illustrate the extent of the injury. Along with that, it can be used to supplement expert testimony of the claim.

So, how accurate are medical animations in personal injury claims? Let’s look at their effectiveness and accuracy and how they can affect the outcome of your client’s claim.

Why Medical Animations Are Critical for Your Client’s Claim

These pieces of evidence are almost necessary for a personal injury claim. While you can explain that your client suffered a serious brain injury, showing an animation of the injury is much more effective. One study published by the National Library of Medicine stated that humans retain visual information more thoroughly than with words alone.

Here are a few reasons why you need medical animations for your case.

Show the Extent of Injury

With these animations, you can visually represent the injuries sustained by your client, such as fractures, soft tissue damage, or spinal cord injuries. For example, an animation might show how a herniated disc compresses nerves or how a fractured bone was repaired during surgery.

Explain the Mechanisms of Injury

Medical animations can show how an injury occurred, especially in cases involving car accidents, workplace injuries, or slips and falls. For example, you might use an animation to explain how the force of a rear-end collision caused whiplash or traumatic brain injury.

Support Your Expert’s Testimony

Personal injury cases often rely on experts, such as physicians or engineers. With these animations, you can strengthen or supplement their testimony. These visuals can provide clarity to the jury. Plus, it can give credibility to expert opinions, especially when explaining medical conditions or the long-term impact of an injury.

For all of these reasons, it would be beneficial for you to use animations in the courtroom. But do they need to be accurate? Any type of evidence needs to meet accurate standards, or they can be inadmissible in court.

Medical Animations and Accuracy

You may already know that you cannot enter deceptive evidence into your case. All medical animation must be accurate. If you want to ensure that your animations can be used, here are a few guidelines to consider:

Medical Records and Testimony Alignment

Medical animations must be directly based on the plaintiff’s medical records, diagnostic imaging, and expert opinions. For example, if an animation shows a fractured femur, it must match the fracture’s location, severity, and angle as documented in the medical evidence. Any deviation could lead to challenges by opposing counsel, which can turn into potential problems with inadmissibility.

Anatomical and Procedural Precision

Animations should accurately depict human anatomy and any medical procedures involved in the injury’s treatment. For example, if you’re demonstrating a torn rotator cuff surgery, the animation must illustrate the exact surgical steps and tools used. If you have inaccurate or exaggerated depictions, that can undermine the credibility of the evidence.

Expert Review Adherence

If you plan to use medical animations, then they need to undergo a rigorous review by qualified experts, such as orthopedic surgeons, neurologists, or engineers. These professionals can make sure the animations are consistent with established medical knowledge. Many times, you will need testimony from these experts to validate the animation’s accuracy.

Avoid Any Over-Dramatization

While medical animations are persuasive tools to the judge or jury, you cannot exaggerate the facts. For instance, showing overly dramatic depictions of pain may be considered biased. In turn, that can affect the credibility of the animation.

Legal Admissibility Standards Compliance

For these medical animations to be compliant, they need to be relevant, reliable, and not prejudicial. Sometimes, courts may reject animations that are considered speculative or lack a clear basis in evidence.

Can Medical Animations Be Challenged?

Despite their benefits, these benefits can face scrutiny from the defendant’s legal team. Some of these common challenges include:

  • Evidence discrepancy: If the animation conflicts with medical imaging, such as an X-ray or MRI, opposing counsel may argue that it misrepresents the injury.
  • Interpretation subjectivity: Since these animations are created based on interpretations of medical records and expert opinions, sometimes, the evidence can vary. When there are disagreements between experts, disputes over the animation’s accuracy are common.
  • Oversimplification: Animation makes medical concepts accessible. As a result, they often simplify intricate processes. However, oversimplification can omit important details, potentially misleading the court.

Creating Medical Animations

If you want to make sure that you create the most accurate medical animations, there are a few steps to take:

  • Collaborate with qualified medical experts: You will want to involve experienced medical professionals to help with the creation of the animation and provide testimony regarding its accuracy.
  • Base animations on concrete evidence: All of these animations use solid evidence, such as diagnostic imaging and medical records, as the foundation for the animation. With that, you can make sure the details align with the plaintiff’s documented injuries.
  • Work with a professional courtroom medical animation team: Make sure to hire a qualified and skilled company to create professional animations for your case.
  • Prepare for challenges: In any case, you need to anticipate and address potential objections by documenting the creation process and providing evidence of expert validation.

Medical animations can be powerful tools in personal injury claims.  However, their effectiveness hinges on their accuracy and alignment with the medical evidence and expert testimony.

Without these attentions to be accuracy, your evidence could be omitted for the court of law.

If you are looking to create precise animations for your client’s case, turn to Advocacy Digital Media. We have created compelling and accurate illustrations, animations, and other visuals to help persuade the jury in our client’s favor. Find out how we can assist with your next case.