Defense Independent Medical Exams? Sure
In Arizona, as in other states, when an injury is claimed in litigation the defense is entitled, as a matter of right, to have the injured plaintiff examined by a physician.
In Arizona, these exams are entitled, “independent medical examinations” and are conducted by hand picked physicians who are anything but “independent”.
Although reason dictates that the defense should be entitled to have the plaintiff claiming an injury examined by a physician, the system as it now exists is merely gamesmanship.
These “independent” physicians uniformly prepare reports which claim that the injured plaintiff is not injured at all, but in fact is only seeking money.
These reports become suspect when the same “independent” physician writes the same boilerplate report for every plaintiff being examined.
As was recently reported in a New York Times article written by N.R. Kleinfeld, Dr. Hershel Samuels, an independent medical examiner in New York state’s workers’ compensation system stated that, “If you did a truly pure report, you’d be out on your ears and the insurers wouldn’t pay for it. You have to give them what they want, or you’re in Florida. That’s the game, baby”.
Another method for obtaining a truly independent medical examination and evaluation, for the defense, would be for a list of physicians to be assembled by the court. Every medical examination requested by the defense would be conducted by one of these physicians, on a rotating basis, from this list.
When gamesmanship ends, justice can begin.
