For Attorneys: Medical Records, Liens and Documentation in St. Louis

This page is for St. Louis personal-injury and workers’ comp law offices. It covers how to get your client’s medical records from us in 3 business days, how our Missouri lien and letter of protection work, how Missouri and Illinois work injuries differ, and what a physician’s injury record should contain. To refer a client or ask about a file, call us.

We are interventional pain physicians, not a chiropractic office. Our records are written to be read by an adjuster, a defense expert and a jury, because sooner or later they are.

How do I request medical records from Injury Experts?

Send the request from your law office, with a HIPAA-compliant authorization signed by the patient attached to that first request. Not after the first call. With the request.

The office address matters. When a patient asks for their own records, we give them to the patient, and that copy does not create a certified trail from our office to yours. For records to come to your firm, the request comes from your firm.

Almost every month a law office writes to say it has tried to reach us and will subpoena the records. When we pull the file, the cause is nearly always the same: no signed release. Without one, the law does not let us send the records, however many times anyone calls.

Turnaround: 3 business days once the signed release is on file. For an emergency, such as a deposition or mediation date that moved up, same day or next day is often done. Call and tell us the date.

How do medical liens and letters of protection work with us?

The bill is the bill. We tell every injured patient that before the first treatment, not after the case settles. Care is a service rendered, and it is owed whether the case wins or loses. A lien changes when we are paid. It never changes whether we are paid.

That protects your file too. When a bill disappears on a lost case, a patient carries no risk for piling on treatment, and a disappointing verdict gets recast as a medical failure. Take the contingency off the bill and the incentive goes with it. The chart stays clean.

• The right. Missouri’s statutory lien, RSMo 430.225 to 430.250, covers physicians and clinics, not only hospitals. It attaches to the patient’s claim against the party who caused the injury.
• The notice. We perfect it the way RSMo 430.240 requires: certified mail, return receipt requested, to the party alleged to be liable and any known insurer, before money is paid out.
• The mechanics. A letter of protection sits on top of the statute. It sets the figure and records your undertaking to pay our charges from the settlement, judgment or verdict before disbursing to your client.

We absorb the wait. We don’t absorb the obligation. No surprises at disbursement is the whole point.

Is a work injury handled the same way in Missouri and Illinois?

No. Two questions decide the paperwork before anyone talks about treatment: which state the injury happened in, and who sent the patient to us. Ask us both on the first call, or tell us both on yours.

The treatment doesn’t change at the state line. The paperwork does, and getting it wrong in week one costs the patient months.

What do our medical records contain, and why do they hold up?

Since 2017, Missouri has required an expert opinion to rest on sufficient facts or data, come from reliable principles and methods, and apply those methods reliably to the facts of the case (RSMo 490.065). Most injury charts were not built for that. “Neck pain after a rear-end collision” is a complaint. It is not a diagnosis, and it will not carry an opinion very far.

Chiropractic care has a place in recovery. Confirming the pain generator is a physician’s work. Here is what that looks like in the neck. In 500 patients with chronic spine pain at a US interventional pain practice, controlled diagnostic blocks found the facet joints were the source in 55% of those with chronic neck pain. A single neck block, though, was falsely positive 63% of the time (Manchikanti 2004).

So one injection that “helped” is not proof. Two image-guided blocks on separate days, with two different local anesthetics, each giving relief that matches how long that drug lasts, is. Our post on the interventional pain doctor vs chiropractor after a car accident walks through it, and what the expert-testimony standard asks of a medical opinion covers the courtroom side.

What goes in our chart:

1. The exam, with imaging read against it, not instead of it.
2. Controlled, image-guided diagnostic blocks when a pain source needs proving, with the patient’s relief recorded hour by hour.
3. Function measured before and after with standard scores, so progress is a number, not an adjective.
4. Physician-directed physiotherapy under one written protocol, the Neuromuscular Modality Re-Education Protocol. A physician orders and supervises each treatment, and every visit records what was done and why. There is no fixed visit count. Some patients need one or two visits and some need many more; the measurements decide. Our physiotherapy program page lists each treatment and test.
5. The reasoning that ties the findings to the injury, signed by the physician.

When a joint or tendon needs more than therapy, the same record explains why an orthobiologic injection such as PRP was chosen and what it was meant to change.

Why does “no loss of consciousness” not rule out a concussion?

Because blacking out is not what predicts a slow recovery. In 1,507 NCAA athletes with a concussion, loss of consciousness was not associated with symptoms lasting four weeks or more. Retrograde amnesia, trouble concentrating, light sensitivity, insomnia and a prior concussion were (Zuckerman 2016).

The working-age numbers are what matter in a file. TRACK-TBI followed 435 employed adults, 18 to 64, seen at 11 US level I trauma centers for a mild brain injury. At 12 months, 17% were still not working, and more than 1 in 5 had a drop in annual income (Gaudette 2022).

Follow that forward. The ER visit and the CT are paid once. A lost job, a missed promotion or work the person can no longer do repeats every year of a working life. That is why lost earning capacity can dwarf the medical bill, and why it is the part least likely to be written in the chart unless someone measures it. We track symptoms over months, not once, and test cognition with instruments such as Cognivue. Our post on concussion testing windows explains why timing matters.

How do I refer a client to Injury Experts?

1. Call (314) 887-5866 or text (314) 886-5902, or have your client book online.
2. Tell us the date and type of injury, the state it happened in, and whether it is a work injury.
3. Send any imaging and records from earlier visits, and the lien or letter of protection paperwork.
4. Name one contact at your office for updates and records.

We are at 4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 202, St. Louis, MO 63134. Your client sees a physician, Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, who writes and signs the record.

Frequently asked questions

Do you accept a letter of protection?

Yes. We use the Missouri statutory lien and a letter of protection together. The statute gives the right to be paid from the claim. The letter sets the figure and the attorney’s promise to pay from the settlement before disbursing to the client.

My client already sees a chiropractor. Can they still come to you?

Yes. Chiropractic care has a place in recovery, and your client can keep it. We examine, confirm which structure is generating the pain, and direct the medical plan, so the record shows a physician’s diagnosis alongside the hands-on care.

Do you treat clients injured in Illinois?

Yes. We see patients from both sides of the river; our Illinois injury care page lists the Metro East towns we serve. Tell us the state where the injury happened on the first call, because it changes the paperwork, not the treatment.

Where is Injury Experts located?

Injury Experts is at 4477 Woodson Rd, Suite 202, St. Louis, MO 63134, next to Lambert International Airport, with parking at the door. Call (314) 887-5866 or text (314) 886-5902. Directions and hours are on our contact page.

Written and medically reviewed by Dr. Gurpreet Singh Padda, MD, MBA, MHP. Board Certified in Anesthesiology, Pain Medicine, Interventional Pain Management, Addiction Medicine, and Obesity Medicine. Last reviewed October 30, 2026.