What's Up Doc?
WHAT’S UP DOC? 
What a lot of personal injury clients don’t realise is how important it is that they make the medical expert properly aware of how the accident has affected them and disrupted their life. The doctor who examines you will probably work to a standard questionnaire about the impact of your injury on your home life, your ability to work and any hobbies or pastimes which have been affected. That’s why it is so important to think about how your injuries has affected you and your family before you speak to the doctor and make sure the doctor is aware of the full impact of the injury on you and your lifestyle. If these details are not included in your medical report you are losing your opportunity to tell your opponent, and possibly eventually the court, how significantly your injuries have affected you.
Most people who claim damages for personal injuries know that a medical examination will be arranged to enable the full extent of the injuries to be assessed and the medical expert will prepare a detailed report providing an opinion on the severity and the expected duration of the injury. Once the report has been finalised by the expert this is sent to you the client to make sure that the factual details are correct. The report is then disclosed to the other party and, if the injury has fully recovered, proposals for settlement can be made by either party.
It is vitally important that you make sure the doctor examining you properly understands how your accident occurred. This may be relatively straightforward in a road traffic accident, but for accidents at work the details can often be quite complicated.
Once you receive the report from your medical examiner you should read through the report and make sure that all the facts are correct. Once you sign to say the report is correct your solicitor will probably send a copy to your opponent to enable negotiations over the value of your claim to commence. If your opponent finds any discrepancies in your medical report it can be difficult to convince them, and the court, that your version of events is correct but the medical report is not. Once it’s disclosed it’s too late. We will always check through your report with you before you agree to send it to your opponent but sometimes only you can identify where factual details have been incorrectly recorded. We are always on hand to speak to you about this if you have any concerns so don’t worry in silence, give us a call or email and we will guide you through the next steps.
Look out for our next news letter where we will be looking at how injury claims are valued.
