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What Is An Independent Medical Examiner?

Posted by: Jason Krasno
August 01, 2011
Topic: Workers Compensation

An independent medical examiner is a doctor designated by the workers' compensation insurance carrier to perform an examination on you to determine whether your injury is work related and whether disability results from the injury. It is not a doctor that is supposed to treat you for the work injury. There are many good IME doctors out there. Unfortunately, most of our clients run into the "hired guns" of the insurance industry. A large number of independent medical examiners make a lot of money performing IME's. They do not want to jeopardize this stream of revenue, so they typically provide medical opinions in favor of the workers' compensation insurance carrier. As an injured worker, it is important to remember that no matter what your perception is of an IME doctor, you should still treat them with respect. It is important to show up on time with the medical records you have available at the time of the examination. You should describe your symptoms accurately and not magnify how you are feeling. If you exaggerate when being examined, the IME doctor is trained to recognize this and will put it in his report.