Written for attorneys evaluating lower-extremity cases. This is general education about how these matters are assessed clinically. It is not medical advice, not legal advice, and not an opinion about any particular case — every case turns on its own record.
The single most common reason a podiatric case review stalls is an incomplete production. Below is what actually gets used, in rough order of value. Sending the full set at the outset usually saves more in expert time than it costs in copying.
Before records: the conflict check
Send the parties, the treating providers, the practices and the hospitals first — not the records. A conflict has to be cleared before anyone should be reading a chart. Once it clears, I will send instructions for transferring records securely.
Core podiatric records
- Every office note from the defendant practice, complete and in chronological order
- Consent documentation and any pre-operative instructions
- Operative reports for every procedure
- Phone messages, portal messages and after-hours call logs
- Billing ledgers — these often establish visit dates when the notes are ambiguous
Imaging
Reports are not enough. Where imaging matters, the actual images matter, ideally as DICOM on disk or through a viewer link. For surgical cases, weight-bearing radiographs taken before the operation are the most important single item in the file.
Supporting records
- Primary care records for the same period, particularly for diabetic patients
- Vascular studies and any vascular surgery consultation
- Infectious disease consults, cultures and pathology
- Hospital admissions, including emergency department records
- Wound care centre records, which are often kept separately from the podiatry chart
- Physical therapy notes
- Records from any subsequent treating surgeon
Litigation material
- The complaint and any answer
- Plaintiff’s and defendant’s deposition transcripts
- Any expert reports already served
- The scheduling order, so deadlines are visible from the start
What helps most
- Bates-numbered, single searchable PDF per source, rather than hundreds of loose files
- An index of what is included and what is still outstanding
- A short note on what you want answered — standard of care, causation, damages, or all three
If something on this list does not exist, that absence is often itself a finding worth knowing about early.
Related reading
- What a podiatric malpractice case has to prove — what the records are being read against
- Diabetic foot ulcer to amputation — where these files most often break down
- Expert witness services — how a review is scoped and what you get back
- Fees and engagement — retainer, hourly rates and terms, published in full
Have a case like this?
Send the parties, the venue and a short description. I will run a conflict check and tell you plainly whether the record supports the theory. No charge for that first conversation.
Dr. Tom Biernacki, DPM, FACFAS is a double board-certified foot and ankle surgeon in active practice in Howell and Bloomfield Township, Michigan. He reviews podiatric malpractice and lower-extremity injury cases for plaintiff and defense counsel, performs independent medical examinations, and testifies at deposition and trial.