The Product
The Summary Report
A physician-authored medical analysis built for demand and settlement.
The Document
What the Summary Report contains
Every Summary Report is written by a board-certified physician who has read the complete file and spoken with your client. Sections vary by jurisdiction and case type, but the architecture is consistent.
Index of records reviewed
Every provider, facility and date range the physician examined, listed on the first page.
History & mechanism of injury
The physiology of how the event produced these injuries, written so an adjuster without medical training follows it.
Diagnosis of each ongoing injury
Orthopedic, neurologic, cognitive, dental, psychological — each with its own diagnosis and functional consequences.
Written causation analysis
Stated to a reasonable degree of medical probability: a biologically plausible link, a documented temporal relationship, and exclusion of more probable alternative causes — answering pre-existing-condition defenses before they're raised.
Corroboration from the treating record
Verbatim excerpts from your client's own treating providers, with names and dates.
Permanency & future prognosis
States plainly which conditions are permanent, which are expected to improve, and which are too early to call.
Medical specials & liens, itemized
Charges by provider, totaled, with an opinion on reasonableness and relatedness. The itemized breakdown is also the documentation most often used to support a Medicare Set-Aside allocation or push back on an inflated lien demand.
Future medical care and costs
A written care plan — specialists, follow-up, testing, medications, duration — followed by a line-item cost projection. Guardian doesn't use one formula: projections draw on CPT-based regional fee schedules, usual-and-customary charge data, life-care-planning conventions, or published life-expectancy tables, whichever is persuasive and defensible in your venue. The report states its method and assumptions so the figure can be defended, not merely asserted.
The physician's curriculum vitae
Attached to every report — board certification, licensure and active practice, on the record from the moment the defense opens the file.
What the Summary Report is, and what it isn't
You are going to ask these questions on the intake call. We would rather answer them here – before, not during, a deposition.
What it is
- A records-based medical report, authored and signed by a board-certified physician in active practice.
- Prepared for demand and settlement purposes — written to be read by a claims adjuster and defense counsel.
- A full causation and future-cost analysis your treating records don't contain and were never meant to.
- A low flat-fee report.
What it isn't
- Not an independent medical examination — there is no in-person physical exam of your client.
- Not a subspecialist opinion. Reports are authored by generalist physicians.
- Not built to carry a case through cross-examination and trial. On a file headed for verdict, you want a retained subspecialist — and we'll tell you so.
- Not a substitute for standard-of-care testimony in a malpractice action.
If the case doesn't settle, there's a defined path up.
Guardian Medical Advisory is a subsidiary of The Guardian Group, a national med-legal organization with a long track record of supporting board-certified specialists in independent medical examinations and expert witness testimony. When a file moves toward litigation, your case specialist can transition you to a subspecialty-matched, examination-based expert engagement — with the Summary Report work-up already complete.
Most files never need it.
The ones that do shouldn’t have to start over.
Process
Crafted to meet your deadline, not ours
Step 01 · No ChargeSpeak with a case specialist
We review the case type, jurisdiction and deadline, then give you an honest answer, a flat-fee quote, and a delivery date.
Step 02 · Secure TransferSend the file
Medical records, billing ledgers, the incident report and client contact information — accessible only to the reviewing physician and case specialist.
Step 03 · Board-CertifiedPhysician review
A physician reads the entire record — not a summary of it — and builds the injury-by-injury framework and causation analysis.
Step 04 · On DeadlineDelivery
A signed report, CV attached, arrives by the date committed at intake.
Comparison Chart
Summary Report Vs. Retained Expert Witness
| Summary report | Retained expert witness | |
|---|---|---|
| Author | Board-certified physician | Board-certified physician |
| Category type | Generalist | Specialist |
| Opinion covers |
|
|
| Built for | Demand packages, negotiation, mediation | Evaluations, designation, deposition, trial |
| Estimated price | $5,000 | $25,000 |
| Turnaround | Days to weeks | Months |
| Deadlines | When your case demands it | Dictated by expert availability |
| When it is needed | The case will likely settle, or you need to know what the record supports before committing expert spend | Report stands as medical record; escalate from it |
| If you guess wrong | Report stands as work product; escalate from it | Sunk expert cost on a case that settles anyway |