Workers' Compensation

Recent Posts

Utah: Injured Worker’s Tort Action Against IME Physician Properly Dismissed
Posted on 30 Aug 2021 by Thomas A. Robinson

There is no physician-patient relationship between an independent medical examiner and a workers’ compensation claimant, held a Utah appellate court. In the absence of such a relationship, the physician did not owe the claimant the sort of duty... Read More

Florida: Court Clarifies Level of Expertise Required for IMEs
Posted on 24 Oct 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

An independent medical examiner (IME) offered by the employer to opine on whether there was a sufficient causal connection between an employee’s lung condition and his employment need not be a board-certified pulmonologist, held a Florida appellate... Read More

Idaho: For IME Purposes, Court Takes Broad View in Defining “Period of Disability”
Posted on 30 May 2019 by Thomas A. Robinson

In spite of language within Idaho's IME statute [Idaho Code § 72-433] that appears to require attendance at the independent medical examination (IME) session only during the injured employee's ”period of disability,” an employer... Read More

Montana: Supreme Court Says State’s IME Process Does Not Violate Due Process
Posted on 25 Oct 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

Mont. Code Ann. § 39-71-605, which permits workers’ compensation insurers to obtain multiple medical examinations of a claimant, does not permit the State Fund (which had insured the risk and was administering the claim in the instant case... Read More

Kentucky: IME May Use Clinical Skill and Judgment in Construing AMA Guides
Posted on 22 Jun 2017 by Thomas A. Robinson

While a Kentucky physician must base his or her impairment rating regarding an injured worker on the AMA Guides (5th Ed.), the physician is not required to park his or her medical judgment at the examining room door. He or she may utilize clinical skill... Read More

Idaho: Commission Has Discretion to Find Independent Medical Examiner’s Opinion More Persuasive
Posted on 16 Sep 2016 by Thomas A. Robinson

The Supreme Court of Idaho held substantial and competent evidence supported the Commission’s finding that the need for the claimant’s cervical spine surgery was not caused by a prior work-related accident where the Commission relied upon... Read More

Washington: Frustration with Claims Management Not Good Cause for Refusing to Attend IME
Posted on 30 Mar 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

In a case not designated for publication, a Washington appellate court affirmed an employer’s suspension of workers’ compensation benefits to a claimant who refused to attend an IME schedule by the employer where the claimant requested treatment... Read More

Mississippi: Commission Was Wrong to Sanction Claimant's Attorney for Subpoena Issued to Employer's Medical Expert
Posted on 26 Jan 2018 by Thomas A. Robinson

A Mississippi appellate court reversed a decision of the state’s Workers' Compensation Commission that had sanctioned a claimant’s attorney for issuing a subpoena duces tecum to the employer’s medical expert in which the attorney... Read More