Within in a day or two of being in a car wreck, you will receive phone calls from a variety of insurance adjusters. Some may be from your insurance company. Others may want to talk to you about fixing your cars. Others may say they want to help you with your medical bills. At some point, at least one of them will ask you to sign a document allowing the insurance company to get copies of your medical records. Don’t do it!
If you don’t already have a lawyer representing you, get one now. You can’t possibly know what your obligations or rights are without having an experienced lawyer representing you. If the insurance company asking for your medical records is YOUR insurance company, you may have to comply with the request. Or maybe not. If the insurance company asking for your medical records is NOT your insurance company, you do NOT have to agree to allow them access to your records.
The adjuster may claim that you are required to provide your medical records and threaten that they will “close your claim” if you don’t. This isn’t true at all. Ask yourself: (a) what do you want; and (b) what does the insurance company want?
You probably want someone to fix your car and pay your medical bills. If the wreck wasn’t your fault, that’s a reasonable expectation. The insurance company, on the other hand, wants to avoid paying you any money – or much money. Everything the insurance company does after you are in a wreck is designed to pay you as little money as possible. Never forget that. An insurance company is not in the business of being “fair,” “reasonable,” or “caring about you.” An insurance company is in the business of making money.
If an insurance company gets a copy of your medical records, it will be able to see all of the medical conditions you’ve suffered from, regardless of how embarrassing, personal, or unrelated to the collision. The insurance company will use your medical records against you to say that you weren’t really injured in the wreck or that you suffered from the same conditions before the wreck.
There may be times during the course of your claim or lawsuit when you are required to turn over medical records, but you need to allow your attorney to decide which records need to be disclosed and when. Allowing an insurance company access to your medical records before you hire an attorney is always a bad idea. Don’t do it!
