Use of Facebook has caused a Quebec, Canada woman, Nathalie Blanchard, to loss her disability benefits after her insurance adjuster looked through her Facebook page.  The insurance company went through Nathalie's Facebook profile and found several photos showing her smiling and having fun despite being on disability leave for major depression. 

The insurance adjuster found photos of Nathalie which included having fun at a bar, smiling for a picture at her birthday party, and photos from a vacation.  The insurance company, Manulife, stated that the photos were evidence that the woman was no longer depressed and terminated her disability benefits.  Wow!

The woman is fighting the decision and has hired a lawyer.  Nathalie said "If you have insurance be careful. This is a major battle and it's not going to be easy."  According to Nathalie's lawyer the insurance company had no medical opinions to support the benefits termination.  Nathalie on the other hand was prescribed and ordered by her treating psychologist to go on the 4-day vacation as well as get out and try to have fun. 

The message here is clear.  Your information on social media websites is NOT private.  If you have a Washington car accident claim or other personal injury claim assume your insurance company is reading every post and photo uploaded. 

As Kirkland Washington personal injury attorneys we routinely instruct all of our clients to stop posting anything personal to Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or any other website while their injury case is being processed.  No need to give insurance companies ammo to use against no matter whether it's valid or not.  The clearer you keep your case, the better.