Medical Records Help

I am in New York State.

My lawyer frequently requests me to sign the release of medical records from a car accident my family was involved in. The thing is, he wants me to release them to the other lawyers (to the defense lawyers)!

Is this normal to give our medical records to the "enemy" lawyers? What's the purpose in giving them ammunition to build their case?

Thanks in advance...

The "other side" is presumably the side that has to pay--of course they are entitled to see your records and see that you actually sustained the injury you are claiming.

I am currently going through the same thing---not only was my husband a fatality in a crash that was another drivers fault four weeks ago, I also was injured in a car accident a year ago. The "other side" has everything my attorney has. The flip side of that is MY attorney also has the medical records of the others involved in the accident, including blood alcohol test results, etc. I also have the DRIVING record of the other parties involved. Since my husband was merely a passenger in the truck that was struck head on by a school bus, it clearly wasn't HIS fault. They haven't determined who IS at fault, but it certainly wasn't a passenger. There is, for lack of a better word, a free flow of information. Unfortunately, that is necessary if you are going to recover damages, regardless of how violating it feels. I do understand.

You cannot expect the other side to "pay" without substantive proof of injury.

Good luck. Glad you and your family are all alive and well.

Thanks so much for your informative reply, Grace!

Well...like your husband (and I am truely sorry for your loss), this issue relates to my father's death. He died in a car accident and even though his past medical history had NOTHING to do with his death, the "other side" is requesting his medical records.

Is there any reason for them to ask for past medical records of a person who clearly died because of a car accident? It seems unrelated...

I would agree with you. In my accident, they wanted past medical records ( and I wanted them to have those, too ) so I could prove I had never been treated for head or back or neck injuries in the past, nor had I ever been to a chiropractor. This is allowing me to prove that their client is solely responsible for my injuries and they were not preexisting.

However, in the case of a death, I cannot imagine what his past medical history had to do with anything unless they are trying to substantiate that he somehow contributed to the accident ( poor eye sight, heart attack ) etc.. I don't know anything about the accident, but those are just examples. I don't believe it is common place, but I do not think it is unusual.

Aside from just invasion of privacy issues, do you think there is something in his records that would hinder your recovery? ( Generally speaking--please do not divulge personal information, of course).

I, too, am sorry for your loss. There is something very helpless feeling about car accidents ---especially when someone else was at fault. What does your attorney say is the reason for them wanting his past records?

I was just wondering the same thing. (Genuine curosity here.) Did you ask your attorney at the time the releases were signed? Hopefully, it was explained at the time, but that may not have necessarily been the case.

Hi Grace.

My dad was a passenger in a car by the way. I was not in the car with him. Anyway, I am planning on calling my attorney tomorrow and get his take on it. My thought: they want that information to prove life expextancy...ie: if he would have lived to 70 vs living till 60, what would his economic value be worth.

That's just a thought....I'll ask my attorney for sure tomorrow....

And you're totally right...accidents aren't fare and they've left my family feeling helpless...it's not bery fun dealing with the law part of it either....

I cannot imagine them paying a claim by putting a value on the life that was lost. ALL lives that are lost, regardless of age are worth the same. If it were a workman's comp claim, that would be different. Of course, they would use his age to calculate compensation by estimating the number of years he had left to work, etc. But, even then, they don't say, "Eh, this person had cancer, and would have died in six months anyway; therefore, we won't compensate the family as MUCH for his life since he was elderly and ill." That is not how this type of suit works. Compensation is not based on a dollar value of the life that was lost. Even workman's comp is not putting a value on the LIFE, per se. It's a monetry value on the worth of the years he would have been expected to work ( not live ). But, I feel very comfortable stating that they are NOT assigning a monetary value to your fathers life based on HIS medical conditions at the time of his death. Whether the person that was killed was a terminally ill patient, or whether he was a gold medal triathlete in the prime of his life---the monetary value placed on that life is the same. My feeling is that they want his medical records to look for something on which they can establish a causal relationship that would assign some degree of responsibility for the crash to your father. That is, of course, merely a guess.

So I spoke to my lawyer and he's saying what I thought:

We have to give such documents to the opposition. Otherwise they cannot build their case. And if they did need to build their case, they'd try and obtain these documents anyway. It's just easier to give it to them as opposed to making it more drawn out and difficult. Oh well...

Thanks so much for your help. This has been a nice forum!

Thanks for the update, but how does that answer the question of the relevance of his past medical records? How does that help them build their case? On what grounds do they seek this information?