My question involves malpractice in the state of California (or anywhere, actually).
Increasingly, when I go to the doctor, a worker asks my permission to perform services, and if I agree, I'm told to sign my name (or my initials) on a signature pad. I never see the actual agreement or how my signature gets from the pad to wherever it goes or how it's stored. Once, I asked to see the screen and the worker did it with an stifled, but exasperated, sigh. But even looking at the screen, my core question remains.
I am aware of cases (medical and otherwise) that hinge on a signature: it's presence or absence, it's validity, it's timeliness, etc. Suppose a malpractice case hinges on me having said no rather than yes, and suppose the other side produces a document with my initials next to yes -- either because of an input error or a fraudulent change later -- would it be possible to successfully challenge such a digital document in court? Or suppose there was no document at all. Why couldn't a company copy the digital signature from some other document to a newly created missing one? Because the most reputable of companies are using these signature pads, I assume I shouldn't worry, but can someone give me a peek into what the safeguards are either at time or capture or later on in court?

