A person who has been injured in a motor vehicle accident has benefits under the No Fault Law.  Those benefits include payment for medical, hospital, therapy, pharmaceutical, and medical devices, as well as Lost Wages and Miscellaneous expenses (such as travel expenses to and from doctors visits).

Usually No Fault insurance covers injured persons for 3 to 4 months and then the Insurance Company will require you to attend a physical examination by one of their doctors.  These doctors are paid by the insurance company to perform multiple examinations in a short period of time. Typically, these doctors will see between 10 and 30 patients a day ( ! ) and are paid usually 300 to 500 dollars per patient!  The bias towards the injured person is clear.  A doctor who is doing “independent” examinations is, in fact, a worker for the insurance company.

Here are some suggestions for injured persons who are attending these examinations:

1) You generally may cancel your first appointment without penalty, but you MUST attend the second appointment.

2) If you are experiencing pain, advise the doctor of the location of your pain.  You should advise the doctor to be careful when examining you so he does not cause further pain.

3) You should mention to him that you have future appointments with your medical doctor or therapist, if in fact that is true.  Tell him that you are benefiting from the treatment and that you need further treatment.

4) If you complete any forms, you may request copies of the forms.  If they refuse, then you should photograph the forms with your Smart Phone.

5) The doctor is entitled to know the mechanism that injured you, but you are not required to disclose extraneous details (e.g., the color of lights at intersection, the type of shoes you were wearing, the weather on day of accident, whether there were witnesses).

6) You should take note of the time that you waited to see the doctor, as well as the amount of time that he examined you, asked you questions, etc.

Remember, these doctors are not examining you in your best interest: they are examining you in order to terminate your No Fault benefits.