Liability Physical Examination

After the deposition in a personal injury action, the defense is entitled to have a physician or multiple physicians, depending on the nature of your injuries,

Portrait of young doctor listening to patients symptoms sitting at desk in office, copy space

examine you. While this may seem intrusive, the law is that when one claims personal injuries, their physical condition is relevant and the defense is entitled to have an expert or experts of their choosing assess your physical condition. Since the purpose of this examination is defending against a personal injury case and not medical treatment, there is no doctor-patient relationship and hence no doctor-patient confidentiality. The physician who examines is often the expert who will testify at trial for the defense, presumably that your injuries are healed, caused by something other than the accident (such as natural degeneration of the body or a prior accident), or of a minor and non-serious nature. This doctor’s job is not to help you; their job is to defeat your claims. The examination will be thorough, occasionally painful, and generally unpleasant. However, it is necessary. You are not required to answer any questions about how the accident happened or fill out any questionnaires.