Injury Illustrated

Book excerpt: The best storytellers and presenters know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures simplify stories. They make stories memorable. They clarify complex concepts and they educate the audience in the easiest way. That is why attorneys work with artists—medical illustrators, to be exact. Injury Illustrated is the first book of its kind. It is the essential guide on medical illustrations used in the legal context. This book examines the creation of visual graphics known as demonstrative exhibits. These exhibits provide an understanding of traumatic injuries, surgeries, and radiology studies for the jury, judges, adjustors, mediators, and the attorneys. These chapters describe how to tell a clear story about gross anatomy, medical malpractice, and/or death investigation in court by using medical images. While medical illustration and injury law are very different professions, illustrators are the ideal partners for lawyers when solving problems and preparing for litigation. Divided into five sections, this book details who medical illustrators are, how they are educated in medicine, the skills and services they can provide to trial lawyers, and the countless benefits resulting from record review and case preparation.  Find techniques to best use medical images during all stages of litigation  Learn how graphic exhibits engage a jury and empower justice  Understand why attorneys win more cases by collaborating with medical illustrators All readers will learn about this unique career and the attorney-illustrator relationship. More specifically, attorneys, artists, animators, law students, medical students, forensic scientists, and medical experts will understand how demonstrative exhibits assist legal proceedings in forensic matters and civil lawsuits. Warning; these images will be graphic and the cases at times will be catastrophic.