PREPPING FOR AN INDEPENDENT MEDICAL EXAM IN A PERSONAL INJURY CASE

When you are claiming compensation for a personal injury, you might have to undergo an IME (Independent Medical Exam). The insurance company or the defendant could ask for such an exam, where the physician who conducts your examination will be appointed by them. It is good to be prepared for IME, since the result of this examination can significantly influence your case.

At the IME, be prepared to answer queries about your injuries, such as:

• How do you feel now?
• What treatment you have undergone or are undergoing for your injuries?
• Does any activity or a particular position cause pain?

The doctor who is treating you will not have time to provide you with details about your injuries. Hence, you need to note down points that you will be telling during the IME.

However, your answers during the IME need not be long and you do not have to give a detailed account of the accident. You only need to provide a description of your injuries, and the way these injuries have affected your day-to-day activities and your work.

Here are a few tips that can help you go through with the IME in the best possible manner.

Take a Friend Along

In most states, you are allowed to take someone along during the IME. It is always shrewd to have a witness, who will verify to what happened during the medical exam. However, make sure the person you take along does not argue with the doctor, or starts answering on your behalf. This is your ball game. You are the starting pitcher or the quarterback, all eyes are on you. This is the attention you need and what you have been seeking. You can also record this conversation if you want.

Your friend and family member can perhaps help you take notes or be the note takers themselves.

Be Truthful

Do not exaggerate your pain or your symptoms, but at the same time do not leave out anything. Try to answer as accurately as possible, and do not use technical terms.

Do not Become Angry

Remember the IME doctor is chosen by the insurance company, and will be trying to discredit your claim or at least waiting to hear everything from you and will certainly not embellish any of your injuries or accept anything you say as the full and honest truth. Maintain a calm demeanor, even if you are provoked, and simply keep repeating what pain you are experiencing.

If you tripped over your child’s transformer toy the day before you should admit this. This could be the reason your lower back hurts for example. If your lower back was hurt during the accident (not tripping over the toy) then you need to explain this to the doctor. They may write down that some of your pain is coming from tripping over Optimus Prime but that your lower back was hurting before this accident. This accident just aggravated your injury. The doctor will not try to write off the fact that your lower back was injured initially from the accident (not the accident occurring in your home).

You should not have to worry about this type of deceit or dishonesty from any type of doctor.