Can a Colorado Car Accident Victim Ask to See the Defendant’s Medical Records?

Many car accidents in Colorado are the result of drunk driving. When investigating suspected drunk driving accidents, police will often gather valuable evidence for a potential criminal case, including information that may be contained in the driver’s medical records. But can such evidence also be used by the injured victims in pursuing a civil personal injury claim?

Colorado Supreme Court: DA Should Not Have Shared Screenshot with Civil Attorneys

In May 2025, the Colorado Supreme Court addressed this question head-on. The case before the court, Trenshaw v. Jennings, originated with a truck accident on Highway 69. The defendant was driving a tractor-trailer owned by his employer on the highway when he flipped the vehicle over while trying to navigate a curve. The truck then careened into the opposite lane of traffic, crushing another vehicle and killing its occupant.

The victim’s estate subsequently filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the defendant. Simultaneously, the local district attorney’s office opened a criminal investigation into the accident. The district attorney ultimately charged the defendant with vehicular homicide. During its criminal investigation, prosecutors obtained some of the medical records from the defendant’s visit to the emergency room following the accident. As relevant here, those records contained statements the defendant made to doctors about how the truck accident occurred.

The district attorney later shared a screenshot containing some of the physician’s notes from the defendant’s medical records with the personal injury lawyers handling the estate’s wrongful death case. The defendant objected to the use of this information in the civil case on the grounds the medical records were protected by physician-patient privilege. While the privilege did not apply to the district attorney’s criminal investigation, the defendant argued, it did apply to the civil wrongful death lawsuit.

After conducting an in-chambers review, the trial judge decided that the plaintiffs could use five sentences in the medical records specifically related to the defendant’s account of how the accident occurred. The defendant then petitioned the Colorado Supreme Court to intervene. The Court agreed to do so and held that the five sentences in question were, in fact, protected by the physician-patient privilege.

Indeed, the Supreme Court determined it was improper for the trial judge to even conduct a “sentence-by-sentence review” of the defendant’s medical records. The Court held that any “information provided by a patient to a physician during the course of receiving treatment for an injury” is privileged. That said, the estate was still free to seek information from the defendant about how the accident occurred through other forms of discovery. The defendant cannot “immunize” his account of the accident simply by telling it to his doctor.

Contact a Grand Junction Truck Accident Lawyer

Truck accidents are often fatal for the innocent victims. And even when no criminal charges are brought against the truck driver for their negligent or reckless conduct, the victim’s surviving family members can still seek civil justice through a wrongful death claim. If you are in this situation and need legal advice from a qualified Grand Junction truck accident lawyer, contact Killian, Davis & Richter, P.C., today at 970-241-0707. We serve clients throughout Colorado and Wyoming. We have a long-established practice on Colorado’s Western Slope including Grand Junction, Rifle, Delta and Montrose.

Source:

scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=17024448111330961087