409 Payment of medical and similar expenses

If someone offers to pay another person's medical bills after an accident, that offer can't be used in court as proof that they caused the accident or did something wrong. For example, if you pay for someone's hospital visit after a car accident just to help them out, that payment can't later be used against you to show you were at fault.

The idea behind this rule is to encourage people to help others after an accident without worrying that their kindness will be used as evidence of guilt. If people knew that paying for someone's medical care could be treated as an admission of fault, they might be less willing to help injured people, even when helping is the right thing to do.

This rule only blocks the evidence from being used to prove fault. It doesn't stop the payment from being brought up for other reasons, like showing that a payment was actually made or discussing something separate that was said at the same time as the offer.