I’m reading tonight about the concerns of
doctors and the outgoing Chair of the Motor Accidents Solicitors Society about
the new “whiplash panel” to be run by the reporting organization, MedCo.
This is the new ‘independent’ panel of ‘experts’
that will properly assess the impact and effect of soft tissue injuries,
including whiplash which has so long been the bane of insurers who prefer to
pay up on small claims, moan about fraud and say the only solution is to scrap
all small claims regardless of the merits.
The costs of setting up this ‘independent’
panel is being funded by insurers. Smell a rat yet?
James Dalton of the Association of British
Insurers (“ABI”) reportedly told the MASS conference how the lack of objective
testing had led to an increase in fraudulent claims.
‘Developing an IT system that randomly
allocates independent and accredited medical experts to claimant lawyers is
critically important in working towards the delivery of fundamental reform of
the medico-legal reporting system’, Dalton explained.
That word “randomly” evokes some memories…
Like the client with the serious orthopaedic
injuries who was sent to be examined by The Abominable Dr Botox.
Or the GP “with an interest in” obstetrics
and gynaecology who reported on another client’s cruciate knee ligament injury? (Crash and capture)
And don’t forget the mystery practitioner in Fun Boy Three
In They walk among us at the start of this year I posed the question of “who will
(truly) be controlling the selection of “experts” appointed to the new whiplash
panels the MOJ is now proposing…”
Well now you know.
What will be the criteria for membership of
these panels apart from paying a fee to join? Well, the main one is likely to
be the one that insurers apply to every aspect of which they have seized
control.
Cheap as chips – and I mean the nastiest,
tasteless fries you can find.
It’s not just the ‘economies of cost’ that
the Ministry of Justice (cough) so applauds – popular with the populace – but the
consequential savings in compensation that worthless reports from worthless ‘experts’
will ensure.
Insurers will invest in this system and make
it a success in the misty eyes of the MOJ and their chums in the present
government so that, like the costs portals, it can be extended to reporting on
a wider range of injuries.
No decent lawyers, no decent medics. Anything
else you want James? No claims?
