3 years is New Hampshire's usual lawsuit deadline for injury claims under RSA 508:4, but the insurer asks for old scans long before that for one reason: to say your wife was hurt before the crash and pay less.

1. They are looking for a "pre-existing condition" discount. If your wife already had back pain, a prior MRI, degenerative discs, or an old injury, the adjuster will try to frame the Concord wreck as "not new." That is a money move, not a medical one.

New Hampshire law does not let them off the hook just because she was vulnerable. If the crash aggravated an old condition, they can still owe for the worsening. That is the basic eggshell plaintiff rule in practice: they take the injured person as they find them.

2. Broad medical releases are the trap. The insurer often wants a blanket authorization so it can sweep years of records, not just the body part or time period tied to the crash. That gives them ammunition to cherry-pick old complaints and ignore the change after the collision.

After hydroplaning or storm-debris crashes around Concord, they may especially push hard if there was any prior back treatment because soft-tissue and spine claims are easier for them to minimize.

3. The real question is what changed after this crash. Look for new symptoms, stronger pain, new work restrictions, new treatment, missed activities, or imaging showing a measurable worsening. A prior MRI does not erase a new injury.

4. Do not let them rewrite the timeline. Keep the records that show her baseline before the crash and her condition after. If they demand records unrelated to the injury, or keep insisting "it was already there," that is the angle.

If the insurer's medical-record demand feels excessive or deceptive, the New Hampshire Insurance Department is the state agency that handles complaints about claim practices.