Ohio: Injured Worker Need Not Provide Unlimited Medical Release

While an injured worker is required to provide the employer and carrier with reasonable and relevant access to his or her medical records, the worker need not always sign an unlimited medical release provided by the employer, held an Ohio appellate court. Thus, where a worker sustained injuries to her back and left knee (with alleged accompanying depression) in a work-related auto accident in 2009 and eight years later sought PTD benefits, the Commission was justified in requiring the release of all medical information related to the worker’s back, knee, and depression, but the employer’s release form was overly broad. The employer argued that the worker had a history of medical problems unrelated to her injury that could impact her ability to work. Perhaps so, said the court. That did not, however, mean the employer was entitled to unfettered access to the medical records.

Thomas A. Robinson, J.D., the Feature National Columnist for the LexisNexis Workers’ Compensation eNewsletter, is co-author of Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law (LexisNexis).

LexisNexis Online Subscribers: Citations below link to Lexis Advance.

See State ex rel. Costco Wholesale Corp. v. Howard, 2019-Ohio-1460, 2019 Ohio App. LEXIS 1560 (Apr. 18, 2019)

See generally Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, § 127.11.

Source: Larson’s Workers’ Compensation Law, the nation’s leading authority on workers’ compensation law

For a more detailed discussion of the case, see