Rear ended, release medical records to his insurance?

I live in California and the accident occurred in California. I was rear ended at approx 25 mph. I was injured, taken away by ambulance, and almost one month later I am still experiencing pain. At this stage I have two concerns.

His insurance company has sent me a paper requesting a release of my medical records for them to review. Do I HAVE to let them look at my medical records? Or are they just trying to get out of a settlement by trying to find previous back/neck injuries?

There is a minor inconsistency in the police report. After I was hit, I sat back and just rested. I could barely move. When the police showed up they told me to move my car out of the roadway, so I did so the best I could. The police report says that both cars were moved from the scene of the accident upon their arrival. Could this potentially cause a problem for me?

You don't have to release your records, but then they don't have to pay you either.

The police report was accurate, and even if it wasn't, that bit of information has nothing to do with the accident itself so wouldn't affect you. In many cases, injuries don't even show up until days after the accident. Even if the PR specifically said "no injuries", that wouldn't affect your claim.

The police report is not evidence. IF it goes to court, the officers will be called as witnesses, but nothing else. The police report simply establishes the parties involved and establishes fault for the state of CA (for DMV purposes). I have done some 600+ traffic collision investigations and have been called into civil court to testify only once - and even then I was never called to the stand, I just had to wait in the waiting room for three days.

I believe you can release only a portion of your records relating to the accident. You might consider limiting your release only to those records of visits after the collision date and not before ... though they might be looking for pre-existing injuries, so the other side may not go for it.

Do you have your own attorney? How about your insurance company?

- Carl

I agree with ecmst12. In addition, I'll add that the insurance company likely is looking for prior medical history, and if you want to be paid, they will get those records eventually. There are no evil intentions here, they are always concerned about fraud.

You need to prove that your medical damages resulted from that accident. If they insist on having those records and you refuse, the other side will eventually be able to delay paying by simply saying that because of your refusal to release the record, they have no idea if these injuries were really caused by THIS accident, or by something else like a slip and fall at home while working on your roof a month before or after the accident.