Why You Should Not Discuss Your Car Accident Claim With Your Doctor

Getting care and treatment for your injuries from a motor vehicle accident is critical to your health and your case.  While it is important that your doctor knows that you were involved in a motor vehicle accident, there are some matters that you should not be discussing with your doctor.

For example, you should not discuss your claim for compensation with your doctor. This is because your doctor needs to focus on your treatment and not the legal complexities of your case. Additionally, anything you discuss with your doctor could end up in your medical records, which the insurance company may get access to.  

Below, we discuss the dangers of talking about your insurance claim with your doctor. If you were injured in a car crash and have questions about the legal process or how to protect the value of your claim, we are ready to help.

We do not charge upfront fees for our services and the initial consultation is 100 percent free of charge. The Cleveland-based vehicle crash lawyers at Friedman, Domiano and Smith have helped many crash victims secure compensation for medical bills and other damages.

Doctors Need to Focus on Your Medical Treatment

Hospitals and doctors’ offices are busy places. Doctors have a lot of patients to see and limited time to see them. They need to be efficient with their time. They do not have a lot of time to discuss subjects that do not have a direct impact on your treatment.

These are all reasons why you should not discuss details of your injury claim with the doctors involved in your treatment. When you go to the doctor, your focus should be on your injury symptoms and the progression of your treatment.

For example, if your symptoms are getting worse, you need to discuss it with the doctor. Your doctor also needs to know how treatment is working. Are your symptoms getting better? Has the doctor’s treatment helped to reduce pain or improve mobility? Do you have any questions about your diagnosis or the long-term effects of your injury?

These are all examples of subjects that should be discussed with your doctor. It is important to provide your doctors with as much information about your injuries as possible. You do not want to leave anything out because you do not want an injury to go untreated.

Doctors do not want to know about your insurance claim. Doctors want to focus on medical treatment and most of them want to avoid becoming any more involved in your claim than they need to be.

You may think that you will need your doctor to provide testimony to obtain compensation. However, this might not be true. Your lawyer can determine if your doctor will need to do a deposition or testify if your case makes it to court.

Sometimes, doctors might not want to treat a patient who continues to discuss his or her injury claim.

One way to think about this issue is that doctors are not trained to provide legal advice. They went through a lot of school and training to learn how to provide appropriate medical treatment. They are not going to be able to help you sort through legal issues after a car crash.

How Talking to Your Doctor About Your Case Can Damage Your Claim

When you talk to your lawyer about your case, these communications are protected by attorney-client privilege. The same cannot be said about conversations and other communications with doctors.

While there are laws protecting the privacy of your medical information, you are probably going to need to disclose at least some of your medical records when seeking compensation. That is why it is best not to assume the things you tell your doctor are confidential.

If you tell the doctor something about your case, it could be noted in your medical records. If the insurance company finds statements about your claim, you can be sure they will try to use these statements against you. For example, they may claim something you said is an admission of fault. They may claim you are exaggerating the severity of your injuries.

Another potential problem with talking to the doctor about your claim is that you could say something that contradicts earlier statements you made. Insurance companies are always on the lookout for inconsistencies in statements made by crash victims. Inconsistency can damage your credibility.

If you talk to the doctor about how much compensation you need or how much you are expecting to get, the insurance company may say you are only after money or are trying to inflate the value of your claim.   

You should also not tell your doctor anything about conversations you have had with your attorney. Those conversations are protected by attorney-client privilege, but if you tell your doctor about these conversations, you cannot have much of an expectation of confidentiality.

Call Friedman, Domiano and Smith to Discuss Your Claim

The legal process can feel overwhelming for auto accident victims if they try to go through it alone. The insurance company handles accident claims every day and they know how to take advantage of victims who are dealing with an injury, medical bills, lost wages and other damages.

If you were injured because of the negligence of another driver, we are ready to guide you through the legal process at no upfront cost. We have been taking on insurance companies for decades, recovering the compensation victims need to get treatment and deal with the financial consequences of an accident.