malpractice IME/ your thoughts please.

[dennisk]

What is the name of your state?iowa after 2.5 yrs of waiting for a court date and praying
our lawyer makes no mistakes. we are on the docket for jan for medical malpractice
claim against the state of iowa whom has taken every oppertunity to screw with us possible. they now want, and i am told they can leagally do what they call an IME
independant medical examination on our brain injured son.they have informed us that no party of lawyers theres or our's will be present for this exam. only myself and his mother.
and the doctor doing the exam.i have requested to video tape this.and we feel that we
should be able to have our lawyer there as the doctor doing the exam is anything but independant he is a highly paid proffesional witness for the state of iowa. can you give us your thought's on this matter.

 

[moburkes]

What is the name of your state?iowa after 2.5 yrs of waiting for a court date and praying
our lawyer makes no mistakes. we are on the docket for jan for medical malpractice
claim against the state of iowa whom has taken every oppertunity to screw with us possible. they now want, and i am told they can leagally do what they call an IME
independant medical examination on our brain injured son.they have informed us that no party of lawyers theres or our's will be present for this exam. only myself and his mother.
and the doctor doing the exam.i have requested to video tape this.and we feel that we
should be able to have our lawyer there as the doctor doing the exam is anything but independant he is a highly paid proffesional witness for the state of iowa. can you give us your thought's on this matter.

You want a lawyer to be able to tell a doctor how to do his examination?

 

[las365]

You want a lawyer to be able to tell a doctor how to do his examination?

Bingo!

The person who should be there to observe the IME is your medical expert who is going to testify as to your child's current condition and future medical needs, so that s/he can coment on the quality of the evaluation and (probably) dispute the findings. And videotaping the exam probably is a good idea - not you taking the video, but a videographer from a court reporting service.

 

[lya]

dennisk

Why are you suing only the physician and the state of Iowa?

Is the IME related to your previous thread about settlement v. judgment?

 

[dennisk]

case includes all of the university of iowa as well as the state of iowa

that covers the whole bunch

 

[dennisk]

yes same deal and thanks

everyone for your advise. no i dont want the lawyer to tell the doctor anything i just dont trust the state of iowa and with good reason.if its an independant med exam then shouldn't it be done by a neutral doctor who's not on the states payroll. and should my wife and i not be allowed council present.

 

[moburkes]

I still have NO idea what you expect the lawyer to be able to do for you.

 

[LAWMED]

YES...have someone there.

ABSOLUTELY you should have a member of the plaintiffs team in attendance. Typically malpractice attorneys will have a Legal nurse consultant or even their own physician expert attend. Not to interject or be involved in any way, but to take notes and observe. You would be surprised at the difference in testimony from the examiner as to what took place and what actually took place. You MAY NOT be excluded from sending a representative. This is evidence and is not privileged. They MUST allow an observer.

 

[moburkes]

ABSOLUTELY you should have a member of the plaintiffs team in attendance. Typically malpractice attorneys will have a Legal nurse consultant or even their own physician expert attend. Not to interject or be involved in any way, but to take notes and observe. You would be surprised at the difference in testimony from the examiner as to what took place and what actually took place. You MAY NOT be excluded from sending a representative. This is evidence and is not privileged. They MUST allow an observer.

A nurse consultant or another physician is VERY different than having your lawyer attend.

 

[ecmst12]

Not if all you're looking for is a witness to what happens during the exam.

 

[moburkes]

Not if all you're looking for is a witness to what happens during the exam.

I disagree. How would a lawyer know what to look for?

If I witnessed someone's exam, all my report would state would be basics, cause I sure as heck wouldn't know if a doc made some type of mistake, or forgot to do something, or whatever.

 

[ecmst12]

You're also not a malpractice lawyer. I would know exactly what to look for just from my experience reviewing IME's for the veterans at my last job. Malpractice lawyers review the same reports all the time. And besides, the person in the room wouldn't even need to know - he (or she) would just have to observe and take notes, so the doctor couldn't then lie on the stand about the exam. If the exam was incomplete, that could be dealt with later when the notes are reviewed.

 

[moburkes]

You're also not a malpractice lawyer. I would know exactly what to look for just from my experience reviewing IME's for the veterans at my last job. Malpractice lawyers review the same reports all the time. And besides, the person in the room wouldn't even need to know - he (or she) would just have to observe and take notes, so the doctor couldn't then lie on the stand about the exam. If the exam was incomplete, that could be dealt with later when the notes are reviewed.

That's true, I'm not. I just think that a person who DOES this would be better equipped, so I tend to agree with LAWMED.

 

[las365]

Well you don't want your attorney to become a witness because that could disqualify him or her from representing you. It seems to me that the person who should attend in anticipation of giving testimony about methodology and results of the examination would be the Plaintiff's expert who has expertise in the same area as the examining doctor. Video would be appropriate to document the actual examination.