When you bring a personal injury claim, your medical condition is often front and center. But that does not mean the defense is entitled to unlimited access to your entire medical history.
In California, you only place your medical condition “at issue” to the extent it relates to the injuries you are claiming. Unfortunately, insurance companies and defense attorneys often attempt to go much further—seeking years of unrelated records in hopes of finding something they can use against you.
That’s where having the right attorney matters.
At the Law Office of Adam Sorrells, we take steps to protect our clients’ privacy by:
- Limiting medical record disclosures to relevant time periods and conditions
- Objecting to overly broad subpoenas and discovery requests
- Seeking protective orders when necessary to prevent abuse
- Ensuring sensitive or unrelated medical information stays private
Your health information is deeply personal. While you waive some aspects of your medical privacy by bringing a personal injury lawsuit, you only waive privacy as to those body parts that you have "tendered at issue" in the case. For example, if you have a back injury, you waive medical privacy regarding other back injuries in your medical records; however, if you have a back injury, that does not mean you agree to release your female health records to the insurance, as an example. Too many lawyers gloss over this and let the insurance company run rampant with ordering medical records and digging into your private medical past. The law allows reasonable discovery, it also provides important protections—and we make sure those protections are enforced.
If you’ve been injured, you deserve both fair compensation and respect for your privacy.
530-893-9900
