Once you file a personal injury claim, the insurance company might order an independent medical examination (IME). The purpose of the examination is to assess the nature of your accident injuries. However, the examination might be biased — it might benefit the insurance company (at your expense) if you are not careful.

Below are some tips to help you deal with the examination.  

Understand Each Question

Listen and understand each question before giving an answer. Seek clarification if necessary. Taking time with the examination and getting it right is better than hurrying it and making a mistake.

Say the examiner asks how long you have been off medication, and you hear it as how long you have been on medication. The examiner might conclude that your recovery is progressing faster than it is.

Give Honest Answers

Lying during your IME can hurt your case in two main ways. First, the risk of discovery by the examiner is high. If that happens, you will lose your credibility and the examiner will wonder what else you have been lying about.

Secondly, the examiner's queries won't be all straightforward. The examiner might even ask you seemingly unrelated or irrelevant questions. Some questions don't even have right or wrong answers. Giving untruthful answers to such questions can end up hurting your case.

Be Consistent

The best way to ace the IME is to be consistent. The way you walk, talk, and behave during the examination should be consistent. The examiner will be assessing you from the minute you walk into the room. You cannot claim unbearable pain in your leg while climbing stairs two at a time without any sign of the pain.

Don't Volunteer Information

The examiner will be looking for inconsistencies in your answers and mannerisms. Talking a lot increases your risk of saying something that the examiner can misunderstand. Limit what you say about your injuries. Don't volunteer information. If you have to talk to break an uncomfortable silence, talk about innocuous things, such as the weather or traffic.

Cooperate Fully

Lastly, it pays to cooperate with the examiner. Don't be difficult, abusive, or unresponsive during the examination. For one, the examiner is just doing their job. Secondly, you don't want to antagonize the examiner and let them leave with a poor impression of you.

You don't have to worry about the independent medical examination if you have a personal injury lawyer. The lawyer will prepare you for the examination — follow the lawyer's advice to the letter.

For more information, reach out to a company like Spooner & Perkins P.C. Attorneys at Law.