Burnaby Division of Family Practice

Medico-legal Letter Writing by Dr. Mary Kagan

For Medico-legal letter writing, consider taking the 1/2-day course offered by The Law Society of BC. I took it in 2012 at the offices of Bull, Housser and Tupper - excellent!

You will learn the do’s and don'ts, how to create a template and organize your office notes, consults and imaging before getting started. Some highlights: 

  • When you write, keep track of the time.  You can bill for the report as well as for every 15-minutes of reviewing the chart and other documents.
  • Get paid after you write but before you send the report.
  • You may request then physio, massage, other doctor visits, etc. reports from the lawyer before getting started.
  • You may request MSP billing summaries to see if the patient had visits for 'back pain' etc. before the MVA.
  • Also consider a template for the 1st MVA visit so you don't neglect to record the pertinent positive and negative findings.
  • You may also book a few hours out of seeing patients in your day to write these so they don't take up your evenings and weekends.