Insurer’s Independent Medical Exam for Amazon Workers

Chicago Lawyers Helping Injured Warehouse Employees

Amazon promotes itself as a prestigious company that offers a lot to its employees. However, media coverage has brought to light the punishing expectations placed on Amazon workers. These demands can take a serious toll on the body and may result in injuries. Amazon and its insurer may not believe the extent to which you are disabled; they may ask you to attend an independent medical exam. If you are concerned about an insurer’s independent medical exam for Amazon workers, you should discuss your situation with the seasoned Chicago workers’ compensation lawyers of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca.

Insurer’s Independent Medical Exam for Amazon Workers in Chicago

Catastrophic injures are typically expensive to treat. For instance, if a surgeon had to operate on your back after you suffered a catastrophic injury in a warehouse vehicle accident, you may no longer be able to work in the warehouse while facing substantial medical bills. You may need vocational rehabilitation to find another job. However, Amazon and its insurer may not believe the extent to which your injuries affect your life. The insurer might even deny your claim, citing your pre-existing condition. This denial may not be valid as you’re still entitled to benefits, so long as your work injury exacerbated your preexisting condition.

In order to determine whether you deserve the benefits you and your doctor believe you deserve, an insurer may ask you to undergo an independent medical exam (IME). Although they are called “independent,” these exams are often conducted by doctors that insurers know tend to prescribe conservative treatments or who frequently side with employers and insurers over workers.

Issues that could come up that are likely to result in a workers’ compensation insurer asking you to go through an IME include:

• You not working as productively as Amazon would like due to a partial disability
• Your need for an expensive surgical procedure that Amazon’s insurer doesn’t believe is reasonable or necessary
• Your need for permanent total disability pay
• Lack of objective evidence for your injuries (such as imaging or lab work or the like)
• A need to figure out whether particular work restrictions are legitimate.

You will need to go to the IME or risk losing your benefits. At the IME, your doctor may conduct a general exam or perform the examination with the goal of determining the answers to particular questions of the insurer. For instance, if Amazon is skeptical that a revision surgery is a reasonable and necessary treatment for a disfiguring scar, it may ask the IME doctor for his opinion about this.

Report from an IME Doctor in Chicago

As your lawyers, we can ask for a hearing in front of an arbitrator of the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission if there is a dispute about your benefits. It’s wise to file an Application for Adjustment of Claim with the IWCC, so that you can move forward with your claim in the event that Amazon’s insurer abruptly stops paying benefits or refuses to pay certain benefits while paying others.

The IME doctor’s report may be used as evidence against your claim. An arbitrator may need to weigh the credibility of an IME doctor and his report against your treating physician’s recommendations. The IME doctor and your treating physician may need to provide testimony and answer questions so that credibility can be assessed.

Retain a Seasoned Lawyer Who Represents Injured Amazon Workers

Doctors’ opinions have a lot of clout. An insurer’s independent medical exam for Amazon workers can make or break claims. It can be critical to work with an experienced lawyer who can make sure your treating physician’s recommendations are appropriate and will stand up against an IME doctor’s report. The experienced Chicago attorneys of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca provide knowledgeable representation to Amazon workers whose claims are questioned or denied by insurers. We also represent Amazon workers in Quincy, Aurora, Champaign, and Rockford, as well as Kane, Winnebago, Sangamon, Cook, and Adams Counties. If you sustained an injury while working at Amazon, you should call us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online form.