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In Indiana, negligent motorists can be sued for car accidents they cause. After a collision, you may receive a series of documents from the defendant’s insurer. Often, these documents include a medical release form that allows an insurance company to access your medical records and bills.
You should not sign a release of your medical records following an accident in Indiana until you have reviewed your case with our attorneys. There are multiple ways that signing a medical records release can put your claim at risk.
If you were injured because of a car accident in Indiana, get help taking the appropriate steps toward compensation. Reach out to our experienced Indiana car accident lawyers today by calling Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166. Our attorneys can provide a free case assessment.
In Indiana, victims can seek compensation from at-fault motorists for their car accident injuries. Usually, these damages will be paid by the defendants’ insurance companies.
After an injurious accident, a defendant’s insurer may ask you to sign a release of your medical records. Signing a medical records release gives an insurance company access to your past and present medical history. You should not sign such a release without first reviewing your case with our Indianapolis car accident lawyers. The following are all examples of ways that singing a release of medical records can negatively impact your claim:
By signing a medical records release, you often give insurer access to more medical records than you might expect. Insurance companies often try to use records of pre-existing injuries you might have suffered to refute aspects of this injury claim. For example, suppose you suffered spinal cord damage because of an accident but previously complained of back pain to your doctor. In that case, an insurance adjuster may try to use that information to argue that your injury was not caused by the accident at issue. Our Indiana car accident lawyers can fight to keep pre-existing injuries from being a detriment to your case.
After signing a medical records release, a defendant’s insurance company will also have access to many of your doctors’ notes that were recorded over the course of your treatment. Insurance adjusters may search for notes that can be used to contradict elements of your case. For example, you may suffer delayed symptoms like headaches or muscle pains as a result of your car accident injuries. If these symptoms were not mentioned in the doctor’s notes from your emergency room visit on the day of your crash, then the defendant’s insurer may assert that the symptoms are unrelated to your car accident injuries.
Many types of car accident injuries can produce symptoms that do not arise until days after a crash. Before signing a medical records release for a defendant’s insurance company, you should seek guidance and support from our Hammond car accident lawyers. Our team can help you seek compensation for the full range of damages related to your injuries.
Furthermore, the defendant’s insurance company may ask you to sign a release of medical records to see if there was a delay in your medical treatment. A delay in medical treatment could be used to inhibit your claim in multiple ways. For instance, if you did not seek treatment for your injuries right away, a defendant’s insurer may argue that you were not truly hurt. Furthermore, an insurance company may assert that your harmful symptoms have subsided if you failed to attend a scheduled appointment or did not continue taking your prescribed medication.
If you contact our Fort Wayne car accident lawyers before signing a release of your medical records, our team can fight to prevent a delay in medical treatment from affecting your claim. There are multiple ways to justify a delay or gap in your medical treatment. Our attorneys can lean on years of experience when presenting your case and negotiating for the payment you deserve.
Still, if you suffered a harmful collision, you should attempt to avoid a delay or gap in medical treatment if possible. You should seek medical care quickly after your accident and be sure to attend any follow-up appointments. Also, you should continue taking any prescribed medication and seek immediate medical care if your symptoms worsen. Any medical expenses incurred because of your car accident injuries will be included in your claim against the defendant and their insurer.
Lastly, prior doctor’s visits found in your medical history may also be used to decrease the value of your claim. Defendants and their insurance companies may try to argue that if you have a history of going to the doctor for minor issues, the fact that you sought treatment now does not necessarily show that this injury was actually severe. They may even try to paint you as a hypochondriac. Accordingly, if you were hurt because of a car crash, you should contact our South Bend car accident lawyers before turning over any medical information to an insurance company or lawyer for the defense.
In addition to a release of your medical records, defendants’ insurance companies may present several other forms for victims to sign. If you suffered a car accident, you might be presented with any of the following forms: Medical Authorization Release, Release of All Liability and Claims, or Property Damage Release.
You should not sign any of these forms without speaking with our experienced Indiana car accident lawyers. Our attorneys help determine the appropriate path to compensation, so you can recover the full range of damages available to you.
If you suffered injuries because of a car crash, seek assistance from our experienced Lafayette, IN personal injury lawyers by calling Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166 for a free review of your case.
Don is a founding partner and one of the nation’s top-ranked personal injury litigators. He is a member of the Multi-million Dollar Advocates Forum, which includes less than 1% of the nation’s trial lawyers, and awarded the highest ranking given by Martindale Hubbel and AVVO.
More importantly, Don understands representing personal injury victims is about more than recovering the best settlement: it’s about helping clients get back on their feet and supporting them in every aspect of their recovery.
In nearly all cases, our clients seek compensation from the wrongdoer’s insurance company. Before forming Wruck Paupore, Jason worked for a prominent law firm representing some of the world’s largest insurers. This experience gives Jason a deep understanding of the insurance industry and the strategies it uses to pay injury victims as little as possible.
Jason -- and our entire team -- put this inside knowledge to work to force insurance companies to pay what is actually owed. Often, we use the insurance company’s own tactics against them as we fight for the full compensation our client deserves.
For more than four decades, Keith has been fighting for injury victims. During that time, he’s watched the insurance industry change, with insurers now more interested in protecting their stock price than treating injury victims fairly.
Since the beginning, Keith has put people first. From his childhood in Gary, Indiana during the 1960’s and working his way through law school, Keith has risen to become one of the Midwest’s most respected trial lawyers. He has never forgotten that being a lawyer is about helping people -- and seeing injury victims through struggles in a way that could change their lives forever.
Over the decades, Keith, Don and Jason have fought relentlessly for clients, even when other lawyers have said the case was impossible to win.
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Wruck Paupore P.C.
Injury Lawyers
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Dyer, IN 46311
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