When you are injured in an accident, the first step toward medical treatment is accepting treatment at the scene of the accident by the paramedics that arrive. Unfortunately, many individuals decline medical care because they don’t feel hurt or they simply don’t want to admit that they are hurt. The fact is that they may be more hurt than they think and could be missing an opportunity for documentation and medical records that could strengthen their claim.
After the day of the accident, it is good to continue medical treatment. This means making appointments with your doctor and keeping them. Your doctor may refer you to specialists for specific injuries. It is important to let your doctors know that your medical records will need to be used in an injury claim in order to prove the extent of your injuries. This will ensure proper documentation.
However, despite the medical treatment that you receive from your doctor, that doesn’t rule out the need for the defense to request that you undergo an independent medical examination with a doctor of their choice. This information can be used to compare with the reports of your doctors when determining the validity of the injuries. This is part of the defense’s strategy to challenge the severity of your injuries, although this doesn’t always work for them.
When this exam is requested of you, it is important that you listen to the advice of your injury attorney. It is okay to move forward with the exam, but you don’t want to do or say anything during the exam that could hurt you because what you say regarding your condition could be recorded in the medical report.
An independent medical exam is a lot like any exam, as it is designed to determine the cause, extent, and if necessary, treatment for an injury where liability is a factor. Even if you have reached maximum improvement, the medical examination may still be conducted to determine if the injury is related to the event stated in the complaint.
There are important things to keep in mind during the examination. For instance, you don’t want to use statements like, “it’s not that bad.” It is easy to want to be strong in the situation, but the independent medical exam is not the place to be strong when you are really in pain. The doctor needs to know the extent of the injuries, how much pain you are still in, and how the injury has affected you. If it has affected your quality of life, then the doctor needs to know this.
The term “independent” typically means that something is unbiased, but that may not be the case. Sometimes the insurance companies use the same doctors over and over again to help them build their cases against the plaintiffs in injury lawsuits. There are also times when doctors refuse to answer questions about the plaintiff’s disabilities, resulting in another doctor having to be used.
Most of the time, the doctors are at the mercy of the insurance adjusters and do everything they can to please them. While doctors are under an ethical obligation to do what is best for the patient, there are times when this isn’t the case. However, there are also times when the findings in the independent medical examination do back up the findings of the plaintiff’s doctors because the injuries and their effects are that loud and clear.
All in all, an independent medical examination is not the end of the road. You and your attorney can navigate this together so that it is certainly not the only deciding factor in your case and so every effort can be made to ensure you are treated as fairly as possible. Fortunately, juries are aware that some doctors may be biased and, when comparing medical records, they can make educated assessments.
The independent medical exam may be a necessary part of the injury claim process because it gives the defendant’s side an opportunity to see the extent of your injuries. While this may seem okay because a doctor is ethically committed to providing the right assessment, it is a must to have an attorney helping you through this to ensure that everything is fair. To learn more about your rights and options, call Brotherly Law at (215) 545-8500 or contact us online for a free consultation.
If you have been injured due to no fault of your own, you may be able to hold the responsible party accountable for the monetary damages resulting from the accident. Fill out the form below to request a free consultation so we can evaluate your case.