If you are injured due to someone else’s negligence, most often that person or entity’s insurance carrier will compel you to present to a doctor of their choosing for an Independent Medical Exam (IME). The word to zero in on here is “independent,” as there really is nothing independent about the doctor they send you to.
After all, how can any physician who works directly for or is contracted by an insurance carrier be independent or impartial? The answer – they can’t. These medical professionals have nothing to gain and everything to lose by finding you disabled or severely impaired. They have every reason to write their reports on your condition in a manner that is favorable to their employers, i.e., the carriers. Why? Because insurance carriers, as we have discussed many times, are not in business to pay you compensation for your injuries; they are in business to make more money for their shareholders. Therefore, a doctor who consistently and honestly finds claimants to be injured, is not supportive of the carrier’s position. That will cost the carrier money time and again – not a good business plan for the carrier.
Whenever my clients are forced to go to an IME, I let them know that the doctors who examine them are not their friends. IME doctors provide a cursory examination, at best. That means in many instances they cannot comprehensively diagnose the patient. Many of my clients find this experience to be stressful and almost confrontational. They dislike going on their own. That is why my firm has a registered nurse on staff who accompanies my clients to their exams and stays in the room!
If you need to go to an IME, and you must go alone, remember not to engage in too much conversation; simply answer the questions directly. Do not underplay or overplay your injuries – be honest. And, most of all, do not stress out about the result. That is why you have hired an experienced attorney.
