Law Blog - Michael de Broglio Attorney

Colleagues are giving us more and more reports of various medico legal specialists complaining to them about the delays in settlements. While this is quite predictable, what is unfortunately compounding the issue is that it appears in many instances these experts are being supplied with information by the Road Accident Fund. Unfortunately, in most cases, the information appears to be inaccurate and in some cases there is even an intrusion into the agreement reached between the doctor and the attorney. For example, one doctor whose agreement with his attorney provides that he is paid for his medico legal report once the bill of costs has been paid, was given advice by an official of the Road Accident Fund that this is an inappropriate way to settle matters and that in fact the specialist should be paid from the capital! In many other instances, specialists have been told that the matter has been settled, where not only has the bill of costs not been settled, not only has the capital has not been settled - but the attorney is still awaiting a settlement offer!

Clearly, there are some problems with the records department, or alternatively all of these doctors are horribly confused. Whatever the situation is, we would suggest that you do advise all of the specialists that you work with that there are currently delays, that the problem does appear to be resolving itself - however slowly - and that it is all a question of time. Unfortunately, as we discover with our clients, this type of advices does not tend to placate human beings and we are in a most undesirable situation where we are now coming under attack from even the experts that we utilise. If however, we all do our bit and keep them informed, and they hear what is the same tale of woe from every attorney, and unfortunately it is, then hopefully we will find a more patient approach being adopted. We are aware of certain cases already where, on the basis of advice given by the Road Accident Fund, the medico legal specialists have issued summonses against attorneys. Whether they will have a right of recourse later, when they discover that they have brought the case on the basis of faulty information supplied to them, or whether anybody at the Road Accident Fund will stand up and take responsibility for giving such incorrect information, is of course an entirely different story.

Posted by Michael de Broglio on Tuesday 08-Mar-05

Medico legals in RAF Matters

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