Insurance Medical Examiners and Defense Lawyer Medical Exams – Getting the Last Word
Sometimes, despite the best preparations, the insurance company’s “hired gun” medical examiner still finds a way for the Defendant to avoid responsibility for the harms and losses the car and bike crash, dog attack or other type of accident caused. You have prepared for the Insurance Medical Exam (the “IME”) and the report is unfavorable. The Reasonableness of your medical care, the necessity of the treatment, the costs and the causal connection to your car crash are all called into question. What can you do ?
Your next strategy is to have a medical examination by a doctor whom you get to choose or have an appointment with your treating doctor. If the IME doctor does not correctly report your injuries, your own unbiased physician can present a more credible description of your injuries. Your attorney can tell you how to arrange an examination from your own doctor, and advise you on who should attend the exam and how to create a record of it. Your legal counsel may have specific questions for our doctor and may also send a copy of the insurance medical examiner’s report for comment, so that your attending doctor gets “the last word.”
Finally, there are some cases where a judge can order a independent medical exam. This typically occurs when mental or physical injuries are in dispute. If the parties are at odds as to which physician to use, the court may decide the physician. In some instances when an exam is compelled, your attorney may be allowed to attend the exam as well. However, that might make counsel a witness, which would create problems at trial if there was a dispute as to what was said and done. A better practice, which we use at ABRAMS LANDAU, is to send a nurse or medical doctor to our clients’ medical exams if a dispute is likely at trial as to what actually transpired. It is expensive, but may prevent even great harm being done to the innocent victim of a car crash or dog attack. An experienced Virginia and Washington DC personal injury trial attorney can protect you from the pitfalls of the Insurance Medical Exam.