The Globe and Mail has written another article about abusive practices in insurer’s examinations. The article has the headline, “Insurance assessment firms altered, ghostwrote accident victim reports“. A couple of the problems the article covers, are assessors taking comments out of context, and picking and choosing what to put in a report. In quoting one injured person, the article states, “He said he felt Dr. Graham was ‘trying to give the insurance company a case… ignoring some things and putting attention to other things, and just taking stuff out of context. His findings were biased. There was no other way you could look at that.’”
IME
Ontario’s new medical centres: glorified DAC 2.0?
Ontario’s new system of independent medical exam centres for auto accident benefits claims, announced Tuesday, will need to be different from the designated assessment centres (DACs) that were abolished in 2006, a former DAC committee chair told Canadian UnderwriterWednesday.
Common mistakes of medical experts
There are a number of pitfalls that medical experts can avoid to ensure they are providing unbiased reports in personal injury litigation, says Toronto orthopaedic spine and trauma surgeon Dr. Michael Ford.
“The role of a medical expert is pivotal because everything hinges on the medical evidence,” he tells AdvocateDaily.com.
http://www.advocatedaily.com/m
Insurance assessment firms altered, ghostwrote accident victim reports
Globe investigation finds billion-dollar companies that are paid by auto insurers hire doctors to assess accident victims in a process called independent medical evaluations, and then edit and package those medical reports. In some cases, arbitrators and judges have rejected the assessment reports because the companies altered the medical professionals’ opinions in the insurer’s favour. Kathy Tomlinson reports
Licensed to bill
Doctors are taking in millions of dollars a year by putting their names to accident injury reports for the insurance industry. Some of these reports unfairly discredit injury claims, leaving victims intimidated and exhausted. But because the majority settle out of court, the practice is hidden from public scrutiny. Kathy Tomlinson investigates
Investigation Reveals Bias in Independent Medical Examinations
In many situations, the doctor has never seen the claimant in person and has simply conducted a “paper review” by evaluating the person’s medical file. Many doctors’ reports are rejected by judges and arbitrators for providing biased, erroneous and incorrect assessments of claimants. Yet, despite criticism in some cases, these doctors continue to be used in countless others.
https://www.gregmonforton.com/
Once again, accident victims are to blame according to an insurer psychologist
Including this with the news though some might find it upsetting to listen to. It’s interesting to hear how a former insurance IME psychologist speaks about ‘perceived injustice’ and the car accident victims that were sent to him by Ontario insurance companies.
Insurer’s neuropsychologist “team” draws flak for unreliable testing
A professional tapped by an insurer to conduct psychometric evaluations on an injured policyholder is being criticized for his unusual approach to testing.
Insurer’s father-daughter psychology team blasted for dodgy testing of severely hurt motorcyclist
The decision is one of the most striking in a string of cases where adjudicators questioned the objectivity of health professionals testifying about accident victims
The decision Sopher v. Primmum Arbitration Decision
More info on the assessor Lawson, Kerry, Psychologist
Catastrophic impairment and the importance of clear evaluation
Physicians performing assessments to determine whether a personal injury claimant suffers from a catastrophic impairment need to rely on clear evaluative scales to make accurate findings, says Toronto orthopaedic spine and trauma surgeon Dr. Michael Ford.