What You Should Know About Independent Medical Examinations (IMEs)
Personal injury lawsuits in Tifton involve a wide range of events, such as motor vehicle accidents, slip, and fall accidents, medical malpractice, and any accident that happens in the workplace or in a nursing home. In many personal injury lawsuits and when evaluating no-fault claims like workers’ compensation, the injured party will likely undergo an independent medical examination (IME).
What is an Independent Medical Examination (IME)?
The IME comes as a surprise to many injured victims. They often do not realize that an IME is necessary to demonstrate whether a victim’s injuries can be linked to another person or party’s conduct. An IME is always performed by an independent medical professional to ensure impartiality, but despite the purpose of an impartial evaluation, some IMEs (especially those involving motor vehicle accidents when insurance companies are involved) are not truly impartial.
If an insurance company or defendant in a personal injury lawsuit gets to choose the medical professional that performs an IME on the accident victim, with no say from the injured victim or his/her lawyer, the IME may not reveal the true extent of one’s injuries.
For example, if a person sustains back injuries in a car accident, and the medical professional performing the IME was chosen by insurance companies, the results may attempt to link back injuries to a prior incident. In doing so, the IME physician is providing a report that favors a defendant’s goal of not compensating the injured victim.
On the flip side, a truly impartial IME can document the severity of a victim’s injuries to ensure the damages (including physical and mental pain and suffering) are fully known when pursuing a personal injury lawsuit.
Why You Need to Work with a Tifton Personal Injury Lawyer
Whether you have been involved in an accident and believe someone else is to blame or you were injured in the workplace and must undergo an IME to determine whether you are entitled to workers’ compensation benefits, you without a doubt need the help of a legal professional.
A Tifton personal injury lawyer can help you take the proper steps to ensure an IME is fair and accurate. Many accident victims are taken advantage of when they act alone. A lawyer will protect your legal rights and will make every effort to show that IME results support an allegation that another person or party was negligent for causing the accident or incident that resulted in personal injuries.
Contact Hudson Injury Firm Today to Speak with a Tifton Personal Injury Lawyer
Suffering personal injuries in an accident can be a devastating, emotional, and stressful event. Whether you have sustained personal injuries or a loved one has sustained serious or fatal injuries, you deserve to know whether you may be entitled to compensation. With the assistance of a Tifton personal injury lawyer, you will be informed of your legal rights and what you must prove to seek compensation in a personal injury lawsuit.
The Tifton personal injury attorneys of Hudson Injury Firm handle a wide variety of personal injury matters and can quickly evaluate your potential case to determine whether compensation is a real possibility. To schedule a free consultation, contact our office today by calling (229) 396-5845 or by submitting your information through our website’s contact us page.
