The other day we did a post on United Airlines employees and have done other posts on how when you work for a big company that has a lot of workers and injuries, it’s important to get an attorney who has handled many cases against them before. It doesn’t guarantee a result, but increases your chances of success if they know the players and some of the tactics the insurance company will take.
This philosophy also is true when it comes to the dreaded IME (independent medical exam) doctors. You already know that many of these doctors aren’t independent at all and can best be described as hired guns. But did you know that there are big companies that routinely use the same doctor over and over.
UPS (United Parcel Service) for example seems to rotate between a few different IME doctors which is likely based on their availability or UPS knowing that if they only used one doctor that it would look bad.
We’ve seen them use one doctor on lots of cases though who has been found in some Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission trials to not be credible. Knowing this and knowing why can give you a leg up and prevent this doctor from destroying your case.
There are plenty of similar examples from a hand doctor who doesn’t think your job can cause carpal tunnel to back doctors who think that almost any surgery is not needed and that most patients are really fine no matter how much pain they say they are in or what their MRI films show.
These doctors really can hurt you, but if you hire a lawyer who knows their bad reputation and knows how to push back against these IME’s, you will greatly increase your chances of winning.
