An honest answer about whether your care met the standard

A board-certified physician personally reads your records and writes your assessment. Your review is never delegated to non-medical staff.

Yes. A D.O. – Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine – is a fully licensed physician, with the same four years of medical school, the same residency training, the same licensing requirements, and the same authority to practice medicine and perform surgery as an M.D. Roughly one in four U.S. medical students today is training to become a D.O.

You will be told directly, in plain language, and you will understand why. An honest no is part of what you are paying for, because a weak case carries real costs: litigation that is likely to be unsuccessful, depositions that force you to relive a painful experience, and the very real risk that an attorney is later unable to find a qualified expert willing to support the case under oath – and has to withdraw, leaving a family to drop the case or start over with someone new. A clear answer at the beginning spares you all of that. When a review does not find merit, the answer comes as a complete written report – the full reasoning, in your hands to keep, reread, and share with an attorney if you choose – rather than a phone call that fades. If a question remains after you read it, you can send it in writing and the Reviewing Physician will respond.

If you are not satisfied with the review or disagree with the contents of the report, you are encouraged to reach out to a medical or legal professional as soon as possible. Our reports are aimed at providing as much accuracy as possible, but many factors affect an opinion on records review. We do not have the ability to examine you, we were not present at the time of the episode in question, and we cannot guarantee that all relevant records were requested or provided for the review – any of which may affect the opinions within the report.

No. Your review is a physician's opinion about the medical care you received – whether it appears to have met the standard of care. It is not legal advice, and MD Merit is not your attorney. If your case has merit, it can be referred to a law firm that can advise you on the legal side, or you are free to contact an attorney you trust.

No. Your review is a physician's opinion about the medical care you received – whether it appears to have met the standard of care. It is not medical advice, and MD Merit is not your physician. If your case has merit, it can be referred to a law firm that can advise you on the legal side. If you are seeking medical advice, please contact your primary care physician or, if it's an emergency, dial 911.

Yes – as a tool, the way a modern hospital uses technology to help physicians work more thoroughly. Our Curia system lets a physician read every page of a large record quickly and affordably. It assists the physician; it never replaces the physician's judgment.

No. Curia organizes and reads your records and does the groundwork, but a board-certified physician forms every opinion and signs every conclusion. Nothing reaches you that a physician has not personally reviewed.

No. Your records are used only to complete your review. They are handled under a Business Associate Agreement, kept encrypted, never used to train AI models, and never sold or shared. Each case is walled off from every other.

You have a legal right to your own records. After you start your review, we will give you simple instructions and template request letters for getting your records from any hospital or clinic.

Because partial records produce unreliable answers. What happened to you often lives in the pages people skip – nursing notes, medication records, consult reports. A complete chart protects you in both directions: it can reveal a problem the summaries hide, and it keeps a real case from being dismissed for lack of context. If your records show a gap, we will pause the review and help you request what is missing before the clock starts.

No – the next step is entirely your choice, and there are two paths. If you want a referral, we can send your case to an experienced malpractice firm with a formal referral letter, backed by the physician review. Or you can simply take your written merit assessment and choose your own attorney – it is your document, and it carries the same weight in any lawyer's hands. Nothing is referred anywhere without your permission, and you will never be pressured toward a firm we suggest. MD Merit never takes a referral fee or any share of a recovery; how referrals work is explained clearly in your intake agreement before you pay.

On purpose – to protect you. When the records show your care may have fallen below the standard, your written assessment is kept deliberately concise: a clear conclusion and what to do next, without the detailed analysis spread across a document that could circulate. The full physician analysis is prepared for the attorney you retain and provided to that attorney directly. Reviews that find little or no merit are the opposite – those you receive in full, because that complete explanation is exactly what you paid for.