Good Fences And Not So Good Neighbors: Property Law 101

3 Reasons To Stay Off Social Media While Pursing A Personal Injury Suit For Medical Malpractice

4 September 2015 by Hunter Moore

If you are currently in the middle of pursuing a personal injury lawsuit based on the claim of medical malpractice, you may want to get off social media for a while. Here are three reasons why social media and personal injury lawsuits just do not mix. 

#1 Opposing Counsel Can Request Access To Your Social Media Accounts

The first and primary reason that you should stay off of social media is that opposing counsel can request access to your social media accounts. All of the other reasons to stay off of social media are based on these primary reasons. 

Even if you personally refuse to allow opposing counsel to access your social media accounts, they can go straight to the providers of those social media accounts. The companies that run those sites generally comply with these types of legal requests, and they will give opposing counsel access to your social media accounts.

That means that opposing counsel will have access to every picture you posted, every comment you made, every item you liked, every time you logged in and where you logged in from. They can even learn about your friends and business contacts through your social media account. Literally every aspect of your account will be accessible to them, even if you delete or deactivate your account. 

#2 What You Say Online Can Be Used Against You In Court

Your social media accounts are a great way for opposing counsel to dig into your life and your mindset. They may not be able to prove that you said something to a friend about how great you have been feeling since your procedure that you are now suing over. However, if you post online that you are "recovering well" or

 

regardless of if you were trying to stay positive or even telling the truth, opposing counsel can use what you say about your health to show that you were not really injured as you said you were due to their client's medical actions. 

#3 Who You Associate With Can Be Used Against You

Once opposing counsel gets a hold of your social media account, they also get easy access to your network of friends, acquaintances, co-workers and family. They don't have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out your social network. They can contact people they learned about from your social media accounts and have them testify to your health and things you said about your medical treatment. If you get in a fight on social media, they can even track down the person you fought with and encourage them to testify and smudge your character. Anyone you spoke with or interacted with about how you were feeling or even what you were doing with your time could potentially become a witness against you.

If you are currently pursuing a medical malpractice personal injury lawsuit on the basis that it negatively affected your health, you are going to want to stay off of social media. Literally any comment or post you make could be used to prove that you are okay and the your case is not justified. Even the amount of time you spend online could be used against any claims you make of not feeling well. It's best to just be careful about what you share online, because it could have legal and personal consequences. Contact a company like Otorowski Johnston Morrow & Golden P.L.L.C. for more information.

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