Who To Discuss My Personal Injury Case With

If you are injured in any type of accident in Virginia and are interested in seeking damages, the following is what you need to know about discussing your case online and with a doctor. To avoid making any other mistakes, consult with a Virginia injury lawyer today and begin filing your claim.

Posting About My Injury Case Online

In general, it is not a good idea for a client to post anything online about their injuries, their accident, or there case. The biggest reason for this is that things posted to social media and the internet are permanent, which means once something goes up it can be found through a cached version of a page or through digging around through other people’s connections and archived pages. This means that whatever information you post can be accessed by defense attorneys and insurance companies and potentially used against you.

Additionally, an attorney in Virginia can not ethically advise someone to take down a post or delete something. Therefore it is generally up to the injured party to decide whether something should be posted. With that said, it is never a good idea to post things about your injury, your recovery, or any other facts of the case.

How Can Something You Post Impact Your Injury Claim?

If you post a picture of you running a marathon and you are claiming injuries to a broken leg, an insurance company or defense attorney is going to see that and they are going to think you’re either not being truthful or that at the very least the value of your claim is diminished and that you have fully recovered. The defense attorneys would use this against you in order to minimize your claim.

Talking To A Doctor About An Accident

If you are injured in any way you can and should talk with a doctor as soon as possible. Just as it is important to be upfront and honest with your attorney, it is important to be the same with your attorney as well.

Doctors need information to do their jobs so with holding any information is only going to end up hurting your situation. For example, if a doctor knows of a car accident, they may be able to determine the causal connection between a collision and injuries to your body. If you tell your doctor about your accident it can help you to get the care you need, but it can also help your case because then your records are going relate your injuries to the accident or other incident that cause your injuries.

The other thing is similar to the lawyer’s relationship, is that there is a confidential relationship with your doctor. HIPAA protects your health information and what you tell your doctor is generally protected. Now, in the litigation context, the defense is going to be entitled to obtain medical records that are pertinent to the case because you are putting your physical condition in issue by making a claim for damages resulting from injuries you sustained in the accident. So the defense is entitled to examine that, but it is important to talk with your doctor and to let them know what you are going through, the nature of your pain, weakness, any other physical complaints you may have.