Cerebral Palsy Life Care Plan Record Keeping and Documents

Fact Checked

The cerebral palsy life care plan provides extensive diagnoses and evaluations, plans for care and treatment, and goals for the future. It should also include a plan for record-keeping and documents for financial and legal purposes.[1] Keep a copy of your child’s life care plan safe and with other important documents, including their health records.

The Importance of Record Keeping for a Life Care Plan

Your child’s life care plan acts as a road map for the future. It provides guidelines for the care they need, the treatments that will most benefit them, and the educational, social, and behavioral interventions to give them the best quality of life.

Record keeping must be a component of something so important. Keeping records of everything in the care plan, from medical records to government aid documents, allows parents to continue to give a child the best opportunities.

• Keeping records and documentation helps with organization so you can quickly access what you need.
• Record keeping also allows parents to provide critical information to caregivers, such as a child’s medications or dietary needs. This allows a child’s medical team to make the best, most informed decisions about ongoing care and treatment.
• Record-keeping of cerebral palsy life care plans is also essential for legal and financial reasons. Documentation is usually required to seek government assistance and benefits, ensure maximum coverage by health care plans, get the most out of tax credits, and plan for future financial needs.
• For legal purposes, the documentation in the life care plan will be a crucial part of a medical malpractice case if you seek a settlement for your child.
• The documents will also be necessary for making future estate plans should care and guardianship need to be transferred.

Managing Medical Records for the Life Care Plan

Medical records are among the most important types of documentation that parents must gather and organize in the life care plan.

Doctors are only required to keep medical records for a patient for a certain number of years, so if you switch doctors, you risk losing those records.

To care for someone with a chronic condition like cerebral palsy, you must ask for records to be transferred any time you switch to a new medical caregiver.

As a parent, you also have a right to have a copy of your child’s medical records. Always ask for updated copies of your child’s records to keep as documentation in your life care plan. This way, you will always have a complete medical history for your child.

There are a few components of medical records that doctors have a right to deny to patients or their guardians. These include the doctor’s notes and observations not part of an actual diagnosis.

Mental health or substance abuse records or any information that a doctor believes may cause a patient to harm themself may be denied to parents or the patient.

Keeping copies of your child’s medical records is essential for their care so that you can ensure all future medical caregivers know their history.

These records are also crucial for suing for medical malpractice. Documents related to the diagnosis of cerebral palsy and the cause of the cerebral palsy or the brain damage that caused it are essential.

Other Documents to Keep in the Life Care Plan

In addition to medical records, ensure that many other types of documentation are kept and organized within your child’s life care plan.

Medical records should include all diagnostic documents, proof of what caused the cerebral palsy, medical evaluations, medical examinations, and test results.

In addition to medical records, keep other essential documents in your child’s life care plan:

• Be sure to record all types of evaluations of your child. For instance, in addition to medical assessment, keep a record of behavioral, educational, and psychological evaluations.
• Keep a record of all treatments and therapies your child has received, including medications.
• Maintain financial records for all expenses associated with your child’s care, from the costs of doctors’ appointments to the travel expenses for treatment and therapy to the cost of nutritional supplements.
• Keep all legal documents, health insurance documents, educational documents and records, and records related to in-home care, daycare, and other similar services.
• Keep records of taxes, financial and estate planning, legal advocacy, and government or non-profit aid.

In short, keep documentation and records for everything related to your child’s well-being, care, treatment, and planning for the future. This includes a lot of paperwork, but it is crucial. Keep it organized, ideally both in paper form and digital form.

Record keeping is one of the more tedious aspects of developing and maintaining your child’s life care plan, but it is important. It will help you stay organized with so much information and ensure you can keep track of everything being done for your child.

Keeping detailed records and documentation will also help you get the resources your child truly needs as you set goals and plan for their future.