When a Buffalo resident is involved in a personal injury accident, his or her medical condition must be put in dispute to proceed with a personal injury lawsuit. Most of us are used to our medical treatment being a confidential matter between the patient and the physician. Once a person’s medical condition is at issue, however, this full confidentiality no longer applies.
For your medical information to be released to the parties, however, they must be authorized by you to obtain copies of your medical records. These authorizations must comply with the terms of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which governs the release of medical information. The requirements for a proper authorization include that it specify the identity of the medical provider being authorized to release the information and the identity of the party authorized to receive it.
As a result, you will usually need to a separate document authorizing the release of medical information from each medical provider to each party involved. If there is only one defendant involved, this means that a full set of authorizations for every medical provider must be signed for your personal injury attorney (who will want a full set of medical records), and the defense. If there is more than one defendant, a full set of authorizations will have to be executed for each additional party.
If you have suffered a personal injury and have any questions, please feel free to call us at 716-542-5444. We would be happy to take your call.
{ 0 comments… add one now }