Be honest. When you sign a document, how much time do you spend reading it? Especially when you’re in someone’s office and you don’t want to take up much of their time? The answer, unfortunately, is often “none at all.” But reading documents when you don’t even know what they consist of won’t help you much, either. That’s why it helps to understand many of the most popular legal contracts out there. One of these legal contracts is the one we’ll tackle here: the medical release.

What exactly is a medical release? Well, put quite simply, this is a form you can often expect to sign when you have a child. A medical release form will give certain people the authorization to seek out medical treatment for the child in extenuating circumstances; for example, you might be expected to sign a medical release form when your child goes out for athletics and will be under someone else’s supervision. There is also another type of medical release form in which you agree that certain medical information can be released under said circumstances.

Although these medical releases usually take this form, there are other situations that might call for them. For example, if you’re responsible for taking care of someone elderly and have the legal authority to do so, you can sign medical documents including releases for them - this usually requires a medical power of attorney or other similar authority, however, and should not be undertaken if you don’t have this legal authority.

You can also sign medical releases for yourself - for example, you can choose to release medical information to emergency authorities if that medical information is needed in your treatment. This kind of release is very important because it can actually help save your life if you ever encounter a medical emergency.

Why sign a medical release form? Don’t you want to keep the details of your medical life private? It’s probably true that most of us want to keep our medical history private, but we certainly don’t always want to keep this information private when that information can help doctors to treat us in the best way. And when we have someone under our care - such as a child - we certainly don’t want the lack of a medical release to get in the way of prompt, effective treatment.

Is it important that you also read these forms when signing them? Of course; it’s important to read anything you sign. Otherwise you don’t know what you’re signing! But you’ll also want to keep the knowledge you found in this article in mind, because you’ll have a deeper understanding of the true purpose of a medical release. In many cases, people are simply looking for ways to ensure proper medical coverage if needed. But you’ll also want to be wary of anyone who doesn’t need a medical information release form requesting one - in some cases, you don’t want to release medical information!