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Answers to Common Insurance-Related Questions

We are frequently asked by health care providers to problem-solve situations involving their patients’ personal injury claims. The questions asked are often times similar, even though they come from many different types of providers throughout Washington. This is our attempt to address some of the more common questions we have been asked over the last…
When Can the Patient’s Attorney Pay Treatment Bills?

A question common to both patient and health care provider is whether an attorney can be expected to pay for the treatment bills of a client pending the resolution of a personal injury claim. The virtually universal answer is that the attorney may not, and should not, pay the health care treatment bills of the…
Insurance Cost Containment vs. Bad Faith

On April 21, 1995, Safeco mailed a form letter to health care providers across the state of Washington. The letter advised that Safeco “will be utilizing the Targeted Care Review and bill audit program offered by Intracorp” to monitor medical costs billed under Safeco’s insureds’ PIP (Personal Injury Protection) policies for motor vehicle accident cases.…
Litigation Neurosis: Factor or Fiction? A Review of Literature

Cervical spine and minor head injuries are a frequent result of motor vehicle accidents. Injured persons often present with symptoms such as forgetfulness, irritability, cognitive deficits, sleeping difficulties, headaches, visual distiburances, and neck pain. Some physicians may be hard-pressed to account for these symptoms on an organic basis, since many are subjective in nature. In…
New Study on Response Characteristics of the Cervical Spine

The nature of cervical hyperflexion/hyperextension injuries and their importance in the medical arena and field of highway safety is well documented. Despite the mass of clinical references and increasing numbers of experimental papers in the literature, however, there has been a scarcity of information on the basic response characteristics of the human neck structure and…
Relationships Between Initial Clinical Findings & Accident Mechanisms

A recent study published in Neurology examined the relationship between initial symptoms following a acceleration-deceleration motor vehicle accident (whiplash injury) and certain mechanical features of the accident. Dr. Matthias Sturzenegger, et al., in Presenting symptoms and signs after whiplash injury: The influence of accident mechanisms, studied the following factors in 137 motor vehicle accident patients:…
Referring the Patient to an Attorney: Should you? How to?

EXAMPLE 1: A new patient appears to be experiencing symptoms related to a chronic sprain/strain injury, which the patient relates to an auto accident. The accident occurred just over two years before your first consultation. Further, it appears that the auto accident resulted from the negligence of another driver. The patient makes no mention of…
Components of an Automobile Insurance Policy

As a law firm whose practice is devoted exclusively to personal injury cases and insurance issues, clients, friends, community members, and business associates often ask us questions concerning insurance coverage. “How much insurance coverage should I have?” “What types of insurance coverage should I have?” The answer to those questions depends upon an individual’s specific…
Gasoline and Alcohol: Commercial and Social Host Liability

While numerous laws and criminal sanctions have been enacted to deter those who drive while intoxicated, deterrence does not compensate those who suffer bodily harm or property damage because of drunken driving. Drunken driving is not seasonal; it remains a major problem 365 days a year. The law has traditionally looked for accountability from those…
Study Compares Conventional Physical Therapy and Intensive Exercises

All physical therapists, when treating low back injuries, recommend some form of back exercises or therapy. A recent study published in Spine1 studied two different types of physical therapy modalities. In a randomized, observer-blind trial, 150 men and women, aged 21 – 64 years, with chronic and sub-chronic low back pain, followed one of three…