When you are suing for a serious injury, you may need reports from doctors to explain your injury and how it affects your life and your ability to work. Reports from orthopedists are common, as broken bones are a common injury that can affect your ability to work and take care of yourself.
Typically, the report you want in an injury case is not an “independent” report. Instead, you will choose a doctor you and your lawyer trust to analyze your injury fairly and produce a report that will help your case. The defense might demand an “independent” exam from another doctor, but they are ultimately the ones picking these physicians, and it can be hard to call the exam truly “independent.” When undergoing independent exams, always talk to a lawyer and prepare accordingly.
For a free case review, call The Carrion Law Firm’s New York personal injury lawyers at (718) 841-0083.
What is an Independent Medical Exam?
When you get medical evidence for your case, you go to a doctor you trust to stand up for you. The defense will often counter your evidence by saying they want an independent exam, which is where an IME (independent medical exam) comes in.
Insurance companies and defendants will demand that you see a doctor they choose to examine you and provide them with a “neutral” account of your condition, prognosis, and abilities. These IMEs are not truly independent in any meaningful way, given that the defense chooses the doctor and pays them for the report.
At the end of the day, an IME is really a counter to your own evidence, and courts can weigh each doctor’s report against the other to determine what agrees, then choose for themselves which discrepancies matter to your case.
How Do I Get an Orthopedic Report for My Injury Case?
If your injuries involve broken bones or you needed pins, rods, and/or screws installed to repair an injury, you probably saw an orthopedist or orthopedic surgeon as part of your treatment. This treating physician can supply medical records and potentially testify about your injuries, and either this physician or an outside physician can prepare a report for the court.
Our Staten Island personal injury lawyers can help you talk to your doctor about a report and guide them through what information we need to present to the judge. If you already had your medical care taken care of, we may be able to help you find another doctor to do the report.
What is in an Orthopedic Report?
Medical reports from orthopedists will discuss your bone injuries and focus on four major factors:
- What injuries did you already suffer?
- What treatment did you already need?
- What treatment will you need going forward?
- How does the injury affect your abilities?
Not only are these elements important in proving what happened to you and how serious your injury was, but they also help us prove damages. For example, information about what care you will need can help us formulate our claim for future medical care costs.
Information about how the injury affects your activities of daily living and your ability to perform work tasks can also be vital in proving how serious your pain and suffering is. It also shows when and whether your injury will allow you to return to work, thus dictating your lost wages.
How to Prepare for an Independent Medical Exam
When the defense demands an independent exam from their own doctor, you usually should attend, or else it can be used against you in your case. However, a negative report can also hurt your case, so it is important to prepare with your lawyer before undergoing the exam.
It is best to know a bit about your condition and your abilities ahead of time so that the doctor does not stump you with any questions or cause you to provide inconsistent information. You should also speak with your lawyer about what kinds of things you can and can’t say – such as the fact that you should never lie or exaggerate your injuries.
At the end of the day, the exam is just that: a medical exam. By this point in your injury case, you may have seen dozens of doctors, and this will be no different than those other exams, except for the fact that they are trying to build evidence against you.
Can You Get a Second Orthopedic Exam?
If you already underwent medical care and maybe even got a medical report from a doctor already, you may still be able to go back and get a second exam (or third, etc.). Sometimes reports from general practitioners or emergency room doctors are not going to be as thorough when it comes to specific or specialized injuries, and seeing a specialist for treatment and medical exams will be important.
When Are Orthopedic Exams Needed for an Injury Case?
Medical exams often happen before a lawsuit is even filed. If your case involves an insurance claim, the insurance company will often request a medical exam at these early stages, and our lawyers may be able to submit reports from your own doctors at these early stages, too.
Ultimately, if the case is not resolved through an insurance claim, we may file in court and fight the case there. We can likely reuse the same medical exams as evidence in your trial, but new information might require new or additional exams.
Not every case requires an orthopedic exam or report. Often, medical records and bills are sufficient to show that your injury happened and that it cost you a certain amount of money. It may not be an important element of the case to detail how severe your broken bones were, especially if you have other, more dire injuries at the center of your case.
Medical exams and IMEs are also used in Workers’ Compensation claims, but our attorneys do not handle Workers’ Compensation cases.
Call Our New York Personal Injury Lawyers Today
If you were hurt in an accident, call The Carrion Law Firm’s Brooklyn personal injury attorneys for help with your case by dialing (718) 841-0083.