The defense attorney or insurance adjuster essentially calling you a liar about your injury?
They may not come out and say it to your face (in some cases they might have actually said this), but in essence this is what they are hinting at.
CODE WORDS…
If the other side has not come out and actually called you a straight up liar, they may have done it on the sly using “code words.”
For example, the independent medical examiner (“IME”), who is anything but independent, may have said, “Well it sure has taken you a long time to heal from this back injury.”
Or, “in most cases I have seen it only takes X amount of weeks to heal from this injury and it’s taken you 2 weeks longer than that…”
These are but a few ways the defense will call you a liar about the pain you may be experiencing due to your injury.
SO IF YOU ARE TRULY HURT WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH THIS?
Because the role of an insurance adjuster and defense attorney in an injury case is to prevent an insurance company from having to pay you for the harm their insured caused you, these individuals are always looking for ways to challenge seriousness of your injury.
One way that you can fight them back and show how the seriousness of your injury has changed your life is through a before and after witness.
WHAT IS THIS BEFORE AND AFTER WITNESS YOU SPEAK OF?
A before and after witness is a person who has observed you in your life before your injury and after the injury.
Family members are usually the ones who notice this, but good friends or associates may also be able to testify about the change.
For example, let’s say that you are part of a bowling league.
Add to this, you are the anchor for your team in that you are one who constantly bowls strikes and picks up many of your spares.
But since your shoulder injury your game has tanked and you have even caused the team to lose a couple of games.
A bowling team member would be a great before and after witness because this team member can testify as to what he or she has seen since the injury.
WHY IS THIS SO POWERFUL AT TRIAL?
This person can tell the jury, through their personal interaction with you how this injury has changed your life.
This person has spent way more time with you than some IME who may not even have personally examined you!
Essentially, it brings the credibility of the IME into question because on one hand you have a person with personal knowledge dealing with this person saying they are hurt vs someone who has barely spent any time with them saying they are lying, really.
HOW DO I LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PROCESS?
If you would like to learn more about the medical malpractice process here in Maryland or whether you are the victim of medical malpractice this is what we invite you to do, and it costs you nothing to take this action.
Pick up the phone and give us a call.
We can be reached at 301-850-4832.
We answer Maryland medical malpractice questions like yours all the time and we would be happy to listen to your story.