A medicolegal assessment is usually performed at the request of either an insurance company or a solicitor. The purpose of these assessments can vary but include a determination of insurer liability, completeness of treatment and assigning a level of permanent impairment.

The doctor's role in this type of assessment is not that of a treating doctor. So as not to cause potential conflict with the treating doctors the assessing doctor cannot provide a medical opinion or give feedback to the patient being assessed.

As a lot may be at stake, it is important for the assessing doctor to be completely unbiased and independent. For this reason our doctors will not accept payment contingent on the outcome of any pending legal proceedings.

Accuracy and consistency are also important. To achieve this the doctor’s use client information questionnaires and a standard set of questions during the assessment. The report is usually dictated immediately after the patient leaves the consultation.

Particular emphasis is placed on determining the mechanism of injury, establishing a diagnosis, conducting a thorough physical examination of the relevant body parts and considering all of the information in the context of current literature and the principles of evidence based medicine.

Any specific questions asked by the referring source are addressed with specific answers.

One hour is allocated for each assessment, chaperones and interpreters are used as necessary and the report is mailed out within five working days of the assessment.

It will involve the following parts:

• A detailed questionnaire.
• A history. This will take the longest part of the assessment and will involve the doctor asking a lot of detailed questions. Because it is important for the doctor to write down exactly what you say he will often summarise what he thought you said and say it back to you. If you think he has misunderstood you, please let him know whilst you are in the room with him. The doctor will ask questions that you might think are not relevant to your injury or condition. These questions are however, important for the doctor to understand the full picture relating to your injury/condition.
• An examination. Frequently this examination will be limited to the part of your body affected by your injury/condition. At times, the doctor will need to examine other parts of your body as well. This examination may require you to remove clothing to allow the doctor to either look at or examine the relevant areas.