Never sign your name on a piece of paper without knowing what it says. A lot of times, after a car accident, you will be given paperwork from an insurance adjuster that will seek a release of your medical records and even your employment history. This gives the insurance company almost complete knowledge of the most intimate parts of your life.
Why would the insurance company want this information? What do they do with it?
The job of an insurance adjuster is to protect the insurance company from giving you the help you deserve with medical bills or to recover lost wages. If an insurance company has to make a payout, they lose money. That means the person who works for the insurance company is going to comb though every last bit of information to find some way that gets the insurance company off the hook for your medical bills.
Here's an example. You get hurt in a car accident. You hit your head on the steering wheel and something caused a lot of back pain. As everybody knows, medical bills are expensive, and for injuries like these you may end up making payments for a very long time for all sorts of future treatments related to your injury. You may also end up losing wages while you are in the hospital or getting treatment because you couldn't get to work.
By getting your medical records and other similar documents, the insurance company will try to build a case that your injuries in the car accident were not really caused by the accident, but by some other event in your life like a back injury you got playing hockey. By doing this, the insurance company will make the argument that they are not responsible for giving you help to pay your medical bills because 'they claim the pain you are in doesn't relate to the car accident.
This is why it is so important to make sure that you know what to do if you are ever hurt in a car accident. A lot of people simply gloss over papers before signing them. In the hazy aftermath of a car accident, your not going to be in the best mental state. You are surrounded by different people, police, firemen and women, citizens from around just trying to help and some of those people are going to ask you to sign a piece of paper. Make sure before you sign anything you know who is giving you the document and what that paper means.
Always try to stay ahead of the insurance companies by educating yourself with the best legal information written by qualified and experienced attorneys who know how to fight the giant insurance companies and get you help to pay your medical bills. If you are hurt in a car accident, it may be best to contact an injury lawyer before you commit to anything.
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