If you are injured in an auto or truck accident the likelihood is that you will receive an inadequate offer to settle your case. This can result in a lawsuit being filed on your behalf and often the insurance defense lawyer will seek to send you to a doctor of the insurance company's choosing, a so-called IME (for Independent Medical Exam).
These doctors are battle-tested and are known for their consistent opinions that are helpful to the insurance company and not the injured person.
When these doctors are unleashed in court they often present their opinions in contravention of the treating doctors and overwhelm them, producing verdicts favorable to the insurance company and defendant.
So, what do you do to defang these IME medical insurance company advocates?
First, get a competent attorney who can systematically deconstruct the often disingenuous IME testimony.
Skillful attorneys can acquaint the jury with the enormous amounts of money IME doctors make from insurance companies, can point out that the IME doctor sees the injured victim once, years after the crash, and often disregard the opinions of the treating healthcare providers who have seen the victim numerous times for the purpose of rendering treatment not testifying.
Car crash victims can also help their own cause. Bring someone with you to the IME so they can offer independent testimony of the brevity of the exam time. Pay attention to whether the IME doctor even touches you at all and whether they perform any physical tests of any kind.
Make a contemporaneous record of what occurs at the IME and get it to your attorney. Often the IME testimony suggests a much more involved exam than actually occurs. Note the exact time the exam with the doctor begins and ends and establish ground rules with your attorney regarding whether you should speak to the doctor at all.
Don't answer questionnaires or offer written information regarding either the cause of your injuries or their origin.
Finally, if something seems unusual or odd about the exam, make note of it and tell your attorney, it may help them illustrate to the jury how this wasn't a medical exam but rather a money-makng opportunity for the doctor and insurance company.
