What can be gained from having a medical observer at an Independent Medical Exam (IME)?

After many years in business we have attended over 800 IME’s. We continue to be amazed at what we find observing IMEs and in IME reports. Here are two examples of what can be accomplished by having a physician observe the IME, review the IME report and write an IME Rebuttal.

Case 1

Jane Doe, a 42-year-old woman, was involved in a rear-end auto crash resulting in her developing unremitting low back pain with radiation into the left leg accompanied by numbness, tingling and loss of sensation in the foot. Jane described her average pain level as 5-6/10.

Jane also complained of depression starting after the accident due to her constant pain. Jane had worked as a laborer before the auto crash and has been unable to work since her symptoms started approximately 48 hours after the accident. It should be noted Jane had worked for the same company for 15 years without incident and cared for two children before getting injured. She had no previous accidents and her health had been good.

The client had an excellent primary care provider. Jane had appropriate treatment after the accident which, unfortunately, was not effective. Early on in Jane’s care, this led one IME provider to report Jane was having an exaggerated pain response or perhaps outright malingering and a “delayed treatment response.”

It was our opinion these assertions were made due to the fact Jane’s case was difficult to sort out. Jane’s primary care doctor got a consultation from a spine specialist and a discogram was done. The discogram showed anterior and posterior annular tears at L3-4 and L4-5. Annular tears by definition are herniated discs. In our opinion given that Jane had never complained of back pain and now had a positive discogram the mechanism of injury and diagnosis was clear and the findings was directly related to the accident.

Two years after the accident the defense asked for another IME. Jane was sent to a well-known IME provider. We observed the IME. In reviewing the IME report the evaluator made a case for the client having a Somatization Disorder unrelated to the accident.

The evaluator’s arguments were compelling except he completely left out of his report the two lumbar herniated discs found on discography! We were able to pick up the flawed IME findings helping the attorney to get the client a substantial settlement.

Case 2

This client had a Workers Compensation claim due to a work-related accident and subsequent injuries. When observing the IME we noticed the evaluator asked a number of questions concerning the minutia of the client’s past medical history and questions about minute details of the work-related accident. The client had difficulty remembering the small details asked of her. We noticed the evaluator became more and more overtly angry at the client as the client was unable to answer questions about minutia which in our opinion was not medically significant to the medical issues at hand.

In the IME report the evaluator stated the client was not forthcoming in answering questions and determined the client either had secondary gain issues or was malingering. We were able to report the nature of the questions asked by the evaluator in our IME Rebuttal Report and we were able to comment on the evaluator’s obvious angry reaction to the client which we opined caused her opinions to be biased.

We opined it was the evaluator who had secondary gain issues and because of her anger the evaluator’s report was biased and should be thrown out. The client went on to receive a settlement for injuries sustained in the work-related accident.

Let Us Know How We Can Help You

• Medical Summary Reports for Settlement Letters

• IME Observation & IME Rebuttal Reports

• Reports Answering Specific Medical Questions

• Standard of Care Reviews

• Liaison with Treating Doctors

• Help with Strategies to Promote Medical Theories

• Interpretation of Meaning, or lack thereof, of Medical Reports & Records

• Independent Record Reviews

• Assessment of Case Validity Regarding Medical Issues

• Referral to Expert Medical Witnesses

• Medical Research

• Facilitation of Communication with Clients, Families, Professionals and Service & Governmental Agencies

• Case Coordination

• Deposition & Trial Question Preparation

• Table-side Deposition & Trial Assistance

As you know, we have purposefully kept our fees exceptionally low allowing you the opportunity to have us review your cases early in your representation while controlling your expenses.

Please CONTACT US for information or fee schedule.