If you suffered serious complications after receiving substandard medical care, you may be inclined to turn to social media for support. Chances are your digital connections will offer love and encouragement, after all, which are invaluable when coping with unanticipated health issues.
Before you post about your condition on Facebook or Twitter, though, consider what the future might hold. Should you plan on taking action, for example, your online activity could ultimately be used against you.
Since the defense and/or insurance adjuster will likely look for any reason to question your credibility, it’s best to stay offline altogether. If you cannot disable your profiles temporarily, you can take the following steps to reduce the chances of jeopardizing your claim inadvertently, but recognize a judge may later require production of the social media posts:
Review the settings on every one of your profiles, and toggle them as needed so only current friends or followers can view your posts. While the defense and/or insurance adjuster may still be able to see some of your content through third-party connections, stricter privacy settings will give you an added layer of protection. Again, if the case goes into litigation a judge may require the production of any and all posts regardless of the privacy settings so it is best to avoid any online posts altogether.
Don’t accept any new friends or followers unless you recognize them. Even if you’re in the habit of approving all requests for networking purposes, you’ll want to avoid doing so as long as your claim is pending.
If you post about the following, the defense and/or insurance adjuster may be able to use the content to discredit some portion of your claim:
Even if you think the posts will only serve to strengthen your claim, there’s no way to predict how the opposing party might spin them. As such, it’s best to avoid posting about certain subjects at all.
“Checking in” will essentially give the claims adjuster and/or defense a paper trail of your social life. And if you’re seeking compensation for non-economic damages like pain and suffering and loss of enjoyment in life, the opposing party may be able to use these “check ins” to challenge the total payout you’re pursuing.
If the insurance adjuster and/or defense cannot access your own profiles, he or she may start monitoring your closest friends and loved ones. Therefore, you should remind them of your pending claim, and ask them not to tag you in their own posts. Otherwise, they could end up hurting your case without even realizing it.
At Hodge & Langley Law Firm, we are committed to helping those who have been wronged make things right. With more than 50 years of collective experience in the legal field, you can be sure we have what it takes to go up against even the largest corporations and insurers. Call 864-585-3873 or fill out our Contact Form to schedule a free consultation with a medical malpractice lawyer.
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