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  1. #1

    Default Do Electronic Signatures Put You at Risk

    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?

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    19,901

    Default Re: Any Danger Saying Yes by Signing a Signature Pad Rather Than a Paper Contract

    Electronic signatures have the force of paper. The real downside is not for you but the other party if it comes into question that you may not have been the person who made the esig. However, if you are getting medical treatment, there's going to be a pretty large presumption that you were the one who signed.

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Oct 2006
    Posts
    16,474

    Default Re: Any Danger Saying Yes by Signing a Signature Pad Rather Than a Paper Contract

    I have always been given a printed out copy of what I signed using a signature pad.

    A signature pad does not store your signature as a separate entity that can be used multiple times. It puts your signature directly on a digital document. I suppose that an expert hacker could lift your signature from that document and put it somewhere else, but an expert forger has always been able to lift one's signature from a paper document and put it somewhere else as well.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Any Danger Saying Yes by Signing a Signature Pad Rather Than a Paper Contract

    llworking: Car rental agencies usually give me a printout with my electronic signature in place as do many credit card terminals. With medical providers, I sometimes get copies, but almost never an actual printout with my signature in place. But no matter that. You provided the critical piece I didn't know -- that the electronic signature is not a piece of code separate from the document that can easily be moved or added to some other document by typical medical office personnel.

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