Is the insurance adjuster or the claims investigator for the insurance company asking you to sign a medical records release form? Has the insurance company asked for copies of your medical records for your car accident claim? If so, it is in your best interest to talk to our New Orleans car accident attorney before you sign a release form or give copies of your medical records to the insurance company. Talking to our attorney may prevent you from doing something to hurt your accident claim.
Doesn’t the Insurance Company Need My Medical Records?
Yes, the insurance company will eventually need copies of your medical records to verify your injuries for your insurance claim. However, the insurance company may not be interested in only viewing your medical records for the car accident. It may want to access much more from your health care records than simply your records related to the car accident.
Why Would the Insurance Company Want Access to My Complete Health Care History?
A favorite insurance tactic used by some companies is to blame a victim’s car accident injuries on a pre-existing medical condition or a prior injury. The company believes that if it can convince a jury that your current injuries were not sustained in the car accident or not caused completely by the traffic accident that it will not be required to pay as much money for your claim.
Therefore, some insurance adjusters ask accident victims to sign a medical records release. The adjuster may say something similar to “we need to get your medical records to verify your injuries so we can pay the claim.” The statement is true. However, the adjuster may not explain that by signing the form you are giving the company access to your entire medical history instead of limiting the records to the car accident records.
How Can I Prevent the Insurance Company from Looking at My Entire Medical History?
Limiting the release to medical records generated as of the date of the traffic accident and later is the first step. The second step is limiting the release to medical records related only to car accident injuries.
However, working with a New Orleans car accident attorney can be the best way to ensure the insurance company does not try any tricks. An experienced NOLA accident attorney understands the various insurance tactics used by adjusters, investigators, and claims representatives to gain information from accident victims that the insurance company can use against accident victims.
Our attorneys protect our clients from these insurance tactics. If the company refuses to work with us to arrive at a fair and just settlement for your injury claim, it knows that we are fully prepared to file a personal injury lawsuit to protect your best interests.
Contact a New Orleans Personal Injury Attorney for More Help
You have the right to receive legal advice from an attorney. Don’t let the insurance company for the other driver to tell you otherwise. Also, don’t let an aggressive claims adjuster convince you that talking to an attorney hurts your case. You may exercise your right to speak to an attorney at any time during the process of filing, negotiating, and settling a car accident claim.
Call Attorney Fred Olinde of The Olinde Firm at (504) 587-1440 or 1-800-587-1889 to talk to a New Orleans personal injury attorney for free. Schedule your free legal consultation today to learn more about how our attorneys can help you.