What you need to know:

Medical specialists.

  • What do I need to know before I agree to see a medical specialist that my family doctor has referred me to?
  • Some specialists are very skilled, experienced and interested in dealing with medico-legal issues and their opinions hold up very well in negotiations and, if necessary, in court. An injured person with an ICBC claim should try to avoid specialists who do not have these qualities.

    Some specialists are very conservative in their views of injuries, whereas others:

    • may be used a great deal by ICBC,
    • are quick to impute exaggeration,
    • may have a reputation with ICBC or the courts as an "advocate" for either ICBC or injured people and thus lack credibility,
    • may not be keeping up with the latest ever-changing scientific knowledge in their field,
    • may hate to write medico-legal reports for lawyers,
    • may write poor reports,
    • may be much more optimistic about people's futures than most specialists in their field.

    If your doctor is considering referring you to a specialist, talk to an experienced injury lawyer about this as soon as possible. Also see the list of doctors ICBC uses the most on this website. From a legal as well as medical standpoint, it is important that you see only top-notch specialists who don't have the negative qualities mentioned above. Unfortunately, these top-notch specialists often have longer waiting lists. Some specialists reserve blocks of time to assess people referred by lawyers. This might get you in quicker .

    Specialists always write the family doctor a report after a referred patient's first or second appointment. It is virtually impossible to hide an unfavourable report from a specialist to your family doctor. If you go to court and do not give the court the report from a particular doctor who has treated you, the court is entitled to conclude that this doctor had something negative to say about you. This rule can hurt you not only in court but also when negotiating with ICBC. ICBC is entitled to obtain copies of the negative reports the specialist wrote to your family doctor and will argue that even your own treating specialist, whom your family doctor entrusted to treat you, agreed with ICBC's doctor about the lack of severity of your injury and your bright future.

    Lawyers for injured people often hire top specialists to assess their injured clients and give them opinions for injury claims. We claim reimbursement of this cost from ICBC on resolution of the case.

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What you need from your medical experts to prove your claim I Work capacity evaluators to prove you can't do your job I Medical specialists I Doctors ICBC hires that it wants you to see-beware I Your medical records - the extent of your right to privacy

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