It’s actually quite common for people not to be happy with their medical report – particularly in road accident cases. So why is this? Is the medical expert you have been sent to no good? Are your solicitors just not listening to you? What can you do?
To address something first, let me tell you the point of the medical report. We lawyers are, unfortunately, not medical experts. To win a claim for compensation, you need to commonly satisfy two key elements – that the injury was caused by a breach of duty, and that the injuries were caused as a result of the incident or accident. In legal speak – liability and causation.
We need a suitable medical expert to examine you, discuss your injuries and suffering with you, and look in to your medical past. The expert, who is independent and has a duty not to you, but to the courts, to provide their impartial medical opinion, writes a report containing all the facts needed for a lawyer to prove that your injuries were caused by negligence and value the claim. So if you are a genuine client, what could go wrong?
The Expert is Not Appropriate!
This could be the case. In road accident cases, if you got your solicitor because your insurers (or another company or middle man) referred you to one through legal expenses insurance or something similar, you have inadvertently become a part in the soon to be made illegal market for referral fees. Solicitors pay huge referral fees of up to £1,000.00 to snag your case from an insurer or a middle man, which leaves them with little money to spend on actually pursuing your claim – especially given that legal fees for road accidents are fixed.
So when you’re solicitor is barely scraping a profit, how can they afford to pay for a top notch medical expert? Well put simply, they probably can’t… hence why you might end up with an inadequate report. We have heard some stories of people being in examinations for no more than a few short minutes…
In April 2013, this practice is being made illegal! Which we are overjoyed at! But I suppose you may not be so thrilled if you have already been caught up in it…
The Report Is Not Accurate – And Your Solicitor Doesn’t Care!
Firstly, your solicitor should care! They are there to fight for your rights to claim compensation you are owed by law for suffering at the hands of someone else. However, going back to the referral fee issue again, if your solicitor has paid a referral fee, they probably don’t care. They don’t have the funds and time to listen to you moan about your medical report – even if it genuinely isn’t accurate. They’re probably just telling you “well that’s the experts opinion” so you’re just going to have to deal with it and “put a claim in for £1,500.00” or something similar because “that’s all you will get.”
The report needs to be accurate because the report is what is being used to settle your compensation claim. If you don’t agree with it, questions need to be posed to the expert. Information needs to be updated. And more importantly, you should only sign and agree to it if you genuinely do agree to it. You will likely need to sign a Statement of Truth to say you are confirming that you have an honest belief in the truth of the content of the medical report. Should you sign a Statement of Truth without an honest belief of the truthfulness of the report, proceedings for contempt of court can be brought against you. If you are found to be in contempt of court you may be subject to a fine and / or imprisonment. So it is vital that you only sign a statement if you have an honest belief that the contents are true and accurate. Otherwise the consequences maybe severe… so never let your solicitors push you in to signing one!!!!!
I Am Still Suffering
Well, the expert gives their opinion to the best of their ability. You may end up being injured and still suffering beyond what the expert believes you will be. If that’s the case, you just need to see the expert again for a further report. Basically, your solicitor should not be advising you to settle your claim until you are either fully healed or you are healed as much as you are ever going to be. If you need more treatment, you should have more treatment. If you suspect your solicitor is pushing you in to settling before you have healed, you may need to question their motives – as this is often not the right thing to do.
I Have Underlying Issues I Wasn’t Aware of!
This is a tricky one – unfortunately, if the expert confirms this, you could be facing a situation where the Defendant is only partially responsible for the extent of your injuries. MRI scans are the main culprit for revealing underlying issues that may mean you are suffering worse after an accident because you had underlying problems that were yet to be triggered. If this is the case, then investigation will confirm if it’s true or not. If it is, then in reality, it is only fair that you are compensated to the true extent of the Defendants involvement in the accident or incident. You can claim for exacerbation and if symptoms are brought forward – but if you have an underlying issue, you have an underlying issue.
I Just Don’t Agree with the Report!
The best thing you can do here is speak to your injury lawyer. The expert is independent, their duty is to the court, and they are not here to make things easy (or hard) for you – they are there to give their professional opinion. If you don’t agree with their opinion, you need to speak with your lawyer to discuss why. If there is something that can be done about it, like a new report with a different expert for example, then this is a potential option if it is reasonable.
Can I Get a Second Opinion?
From another expert, potentially. But from another solicitor – this can be difficult. Now, we love advising people about their prospects for claiming, and we love fighting for our clients to make sure they get every penny of the compensation they deserve. Our clients are awarded 100% of their payouts because we recover our legal fees from the other side. So, if you already have a solicitor, it’s not really reasonable to ring up another solicitor asking for their opinion on how much your claim is worth. We can sometimes give you rough averages, but we would need sight of the medical evidence, your medical records, and the case papers to make an informed judgment. And if you were to provide this all to a solicitor for a second opinion, would you pay them for the research and advice they give you? Well, why would you – you have a lawyer working on a 100% compensation basis, right?
My point is that you would probably have to transfer the case over to a new solicitor. So you need to ask yourself, not whether you can get a free opinion from another lawyer ,but whether you distrust your current solicitor that much that you need to take the case elsewhere. If you got your solicitor through a referral company or an insurer, I can understand why you would want to change!
If you are looking to make a claim for compensation and you want the help of a genuine injury lawyer working on a genuine no win, no fee basis where you are guaranteed to keep 100% of your payout, call our free claims helpline on 0800 634 75 75 today.
