During this COVID-19 pandemic; are there risks associated with medical legal
evaluations? A part of my practice includes performing legal evaluations
called compulsory medical examinations or CMEs. To briefly describe their
purpose, if you're injured, then you will seek care from a physician, but if you're
then filing a legal claim against an individual or a business because of that
injury - you are now a plaintiff in a lawsuit. Your treating physicians will
provide reports on the medical status, and the relatedness of the complaints to
a specific event. In fairness, the legal system provides the accused individual
or business the opportunity to have you examined by a physician, mutually agreed
upon by the attorneys involved. This physician will provide reports regarding
the medical status, and the relatedness of the current complaint to a specific
event. This is the compulsory medical examination. These examinations are
similar to the standard office visit. The CME physician will obtain your history
of the complaint, ask you questions about any other medical conditions, and then
perform a physical exam. These compulsory medical examinations differ in one very
important aspect. The evaluating physician is not the treating physician.
The evaluating physician cannot offer any advice or any counseling. There's no
treatment. Because of the litigation there can be an adversarial atmosphere.
To add angst, the examinations are often professionally videographed at the
direction of the plaintiff attorney. There may even be a court reporter
hired to record every word of the examination. It is stressful to the
person being examined. The examination room itself can get very crowded. Besides
a person claiming injury there are often family or friends who accompanies the
claimant. There may be the plaintiff attorney, then there's a videographer, and
the court reporter. That is a lot of people in a room that's typically no
bigger than 12-feet by 13-feet. During this COVID-19
pandemic, there's no way to perform a legal
evaluation of the person, and have all the requested parties in the room, and
maintain CDC recommended distancing parameters. It goes against the rule of
do no harm. Thus, my practice has converted our
medical legal evaluations to a telemedicine structure. For a
telemedicine evaluation the injured should wear a t-shirt, and if you have issues
with your legs - shorts. I'll ask you to sit in the chair during parts of the
evaluation. You will also need a device such as a smartphone or a computer
camera that'll allow me to view your ability to walk, bend your neck, bend your
back, and do things like standing, or tiptoeing, or squatting, or waving your
arms around. I will also ask you to bring a paper clip or a sharp pen which will
then be used to feel for sharpness to the parts of your bodies. A person's
functionality can be observed by video camera. Medical legal opinions are being
offered based on these telemedicine evaluations. Compulsory medical
examinations are performed at the request of the legal system. It's a way
for attorneys to obtain information about the claim. It is not about
treatment, but during this Coronavirus pandemic, any direct human to human
contact is a risk. Because I'm not providing any care, there's no medical
value to the injured person while the potential risks are unknown.
Telemedicine legal evaluations provide a means for evaluation while avoiding the
pandemic health risks to the injured, to the medical staff, and to the physician.
For the comfort of the injured, as well as to satisfy the desires of the
plaintiff attorney to video graph or transcribe to visit, the examinations may
be performed in the plaintiff attorney's office. I offer these telemedicine
evaluations from my own patients. It's no longer new or
unusual. In this era of COVID-19 pandemic, it is the prudent choice. I hope this
helps everyone understand the reason I'm now performing medical legal evaluations
by telemedicine. We must all do our part to minimize the risks associated with
direct person-to-person interactions. Be smart, stay healthy, stay safe. Thank you.