medical records access

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jeannieb1020

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Essentially I need to know if one is legally obligated to authorize insurance underwriters for Workers' Comp to have complete and unrestricted access to one's medical records in a job stress claim. Does anyone know anything about this?
 
I do not want to appear to be cynical but your are placing a stress claim which means that you are suffering from certain diagnosable psychological conditions. In order for the insurance company to fight your claim, they have to be sure that you did not have this same condition in the past. While I am not implying it is true in your case, I can tell you that in 12 years of reviewing law judge decisions, in some of the stress cases we had, there were a few in which the claimant had very serious personal issues, some going back for years. And in most of these cases, the claimant lost based on the overwhelming evidence that the stress was not work related but either pre-existing or due to serous problems at home..

I am not implying that this is what has happened in your case, but you certainly cannot expect that carrier to have to fight a claim on stress without having the opportunity to know whether or not it was pre-existing.

In short, you do not have to turn over the records. You may well lose your case if you do not. It is a tough call for a judge and commissioner in New York but we can not deny the carrier the right to access appropriate evidence.

Good luck.
 
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