Beware the Insurance Company’s “Independent” Medical Examination

February 2, 2021

Video Transcript

Hello and welcome to Legal Tip Tuesday here at Quatrini Rafferty. My name is Joyce Novotny-Prettiman. I am one of the attorneys here who helps people who are seriously hurt in auto accidents, motorcycle crashes and other similar accidents. It’s interesting to me that many people are surprised after they’re in an auto accident to learn that their own auto insurance company is responsible to pay their medical bills.

It doesn’t matter who’s at fault, your medical bills are paid by your own auto insurance company. There’s recent case law that helps the insurance consumer make sure that they get what they paid for, which is medical coverage in the event of an auto accident that recent case law deals with the situation where an insurance company tries to send you to a doctor that they have chosen and usually the objective in getting you to that examination is to have a doctor give an opinion that you don’t need additional medical treatment.

So if you get a call from an insurance adjuster or a letter that ask you to go to a doctor that you’re not seeing is part of your regular course of treatment, that should throw up a red flag at that point in time, it’s best to get legal advice when you realize that the insurance company may not be able to require that you attend that doctor’s exam and going to that doctor’s exam might not be in your best interest. As long as your own doctors are getting the insurance company the information they need about. Injuries and treatment that should be all that’s necessary.

Hopefully this tip on this Tuesday will be helpful to you. We’re always here to help you with your questions. Thanks so much for listening.