Compulsory Medical Examinations are deceivingly called Independent Medical Examinations by defense attorneys. You should know there is nothing independent about these examinations. Compulsory Medical Examinations are provided under laws of civil procedure 1.280. It allows the defense attorney to hire a doctor to do a physical examination of an injured party, review medical records, review deposition testimony and then write a report based on what their finds and opinions in the case. CME doctors generally make hundreds of thousands, if not millions of dollars a year doing these exams for insurance companies, thus they are in no way independent of the process. They are doctors who are very adept in doing these exams and many times if you compare their reports to similar accident cases, they will almost always have the same opinion and it always benefits the defendant/ insurance company. They usually say there is no permanent injury and the client was not permanently injured from this auto crash. Any pain should be resolved from 60 -90 days after the crash and no medical treatment was reasonable after that time period.
These doctors are very adept to testifying and usually testify more than any other type of witness in auto accident cases. These insurance company doctors will also usually make themselves available to testify live in court for any jury trial. This is often a requirement for them to be hired by an insurance company. However, this is something very difficult for an injured person to get a treating doctor to do. Thus if your doctor does not testify live and the insurance company doctor does, that will give the insurance company an advantage in trial. Find out how to prepare for a CME.
