Also known as: medical histories · patient history · health history
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A category of information recounted by a patient to a physician. It encompasses past or present symptoms or sensations, their inception, or their general cause when the statements are made for and are reasonably pertinent to medical diagnosis or treatment.
After a collision during a soccer match, Sandra described to team physician Carlos the immediate onset of dizziness following head contact and the coach's instruction to keep playing. At trial in her negligence suit against the team, Birch Peak offered Carlos's testimony about those statements. The court admitted the testimony because the details described the inception of symptoms and their general cause in a medical examination setting.
Maria sought to represent a nationwide class of patients alleging that Cardion Pharmaceuticals' cholesterol drug caused liver damage. Cardion argued that differing medical histories among patients defeated commonality for certification. The court rejected the argument, holding that whether Cardion misrepresented the liver risk remained a common question capable of classwide resolution even though individual medical histories would later affect causation and damages.
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Statements describing past or present symptoms or sensations, their inception, or their general cause qualify when made for and reasonably pertinent to medical diagnosis or treatment. The exception focuses on the purpose of the statement and its pertinence to care rather than on whether the examination was solely for treatment.
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An accusation of intent or fault is not reasonably pertinent to diagnosis or treatment and falls outside the exception. A court may exclude the portion attributing blame while admitting the clinically relevant description of the mechanism of injury and symptom onset.
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Differences in individual medical histories affect causation and damages but do not automatically defeat commonality. A uniform question about the defendant's labeling or marketing conduct can still support certification when it is capable of classwide resolution.
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…incur different medical expenses because their monitoring and treatment will depend on singular circumstances and individual medical histories." Id. , at 626. Differences in state law, the Court of Appeals observed, compound these disparities. See id. , at 627 (citing Phillips Petroleum Co. v. Shutts , 472 U. S. 797, 823…