Legal Question in Personal Injury in Georgia

Re: Release of Medical Information

If you make your physical condition the subject of litigation in Georgia, you implicity authorize waiver of your medical information other than psychiatric records. Prior to litigation you can modify the authorization by hand to limit it to treatment for this injury, but of course that may raise a red flag with the claims weenies, who may refuse to negotiate your claim until you give them access to all medical info. Sometimes when you sign it like it's no big deal and identify the doctors who treated the injury, they will just get those records rather than going to the trouble and expense to get other records, but you won't control that.

One option is to write in on their form and initial language like this:

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS: This authorization is expressly conditioned upon the recipient providing, within five (5) days of receipt, a complete copy of all records provided pursuant to this authorization to the undersigned. Failure to do so shall be deemed a violation of the HIPAA medical privacy rules. I expressly request and direct my health care providers NOT to meet, discuss or confer with the adverse party herein authorized to obtain records, or with attorneys, investigators, adjusters, consultants or other representatives for any party or insurance company adverse to me without me or my attorney(s) present.

Re: Release of Medical Information

You can ask them to re-word it, but they probably won't agree. All they are looking for is if you had any prior medical problems such that whatever injuries you sustained in the fall are not the sole result of the fall.