Legal Question in Personal Injury in California

Yes you can limit what you want them to get. This may cause the insurance company to not want to settle the case, however. They want to get a complete history of your injuries, and medical history, and in general they won't take your word for it.

I see this issue a LOT in my practice. My experience is that the insurance company is looking for some reason to deny or minimize the claim, and if they can find something in your medical records that helps them do that, they're happy to use it against you. Moreover, the law in California says they're only entitled to medical records that relate to the injuries/treatment that relate to the rear-end collision; everything else is protected under your Constitutional right to medical privacy.

So, yeah, you can limit what is released by modifying the language of the release form, i.e., "medical care and treatment since [date of incident] to present," or "medical care related to injuries suffered in motor vehicle collision on [date]," or something like that.

Keep in mind, though, as Mr. Morrell said, this will likely NOT make them happy, and may delay or derail settlement of the claim.

As a former insurance defense attorney, I do not see a negative effect if you limit it to "any and all medical records, aside from legally barred records of alcohol or non-prescription drug usage, from the date of the accident of and records before the accident of limited to records of injuries, treatment, analysis, diagnosis of similar injuries or medical conditions effecting those parts of the body injured in the accident of ." send a separate note to the insurance company explaining that you have been informed by an attorney that that is all they are legally entitled to and why you do not want other records revealed. But also contact and confirm in writing to the medical providers that you do not want the other information revealed because in fact what happens is that the insurance company sends a copying service to the physical location, the medical provider turns over the entire patient chart, and everything gets copied, no matter how the subpoena is limited.

If you care for your Constitutionally guaranteed right to privacy, which includes medical matters, then do not sign the authorization.

Once they have your authorization, they will send a copy service to the hospital and/or doctor's office to copy your chart. Do you really think their copy service person who probably makes minimum wage is going to sit in the hospital lobby or records room and check to see what to and what not to copy? Or, why should some stranger (copy service person assuming will understand the contents of the chart) get to review your private medical records? Alternatively, do you think some clerk in the medical records office will sit for hours and review your medical chart to see what to and what not to release? Do you think the clerical employee will understand enough medicine to make an informed decision as to what is appropriate and what is inappropriate to release?

You can't be na�ve enough to think a doctor will sit and go through your record in order to protect your medical privacy!

The only person who actually can/should do that is you or your lawyer!

Tell the insurance company you will NOT sign any such authorization, but you will give them the relevant records when you're done treating.

Take care,