The Chiropractor: An Expert and An Expert Witness

If you've been injured in a car accident, you need to seek legal representation. We here at Gross & Romanick understand the pain and stress you are going through in dealing with your injury, lost income, and unexpected medical expenses. Our firm represents injured individuals and their families in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases--so please contact us today.

In the meantime, please review a recent article we published on whether or not you can or should use chiropractors as expert witnesses.

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As recognition of the effectiveness of chiropractic increases, the acceptance of the chiropractor as an expert witness in the courtroom is also growing. This recognition may be grudging on the part of the "traditional" medical community, even after the American Medical Association's stinging defeat in Wilk v. AMA. However, any number of studies attest to what millions of auto accident victims and back pain sufferers have known for decades. Even Time, that most-read of the newsweeklies, gave its seal of approval in a report last fall headlined, "Is There Method in Manipulation?" "Now," the magazine piece said, "almost despite itself, mainstream medicine has started to take notice," and it cites reports of medical doctor groups holding symposiums on back manipulation and of orthopedic surgeons admitting they referred patients for such treatment.

In addition to this recognition by the public, the medical community and the media, chiropractic doctors have achieved considerable statutory recognition in many jurisdictions, including the Commonwealth of Virginia. The definition of reimbursable medical expense in a Virginia automobile insurance policy must include payment for chiropractic care (see "Helping Clients Negotiate the Insurance Maze"). That language appears because the Virginia Insurance Code, Section §38.2-2201, requires that any insurance company licensed to issue auto liability insurance in the Commonwealth of Virginia provide chiropractic benefits. Virginia's chiropractic doctors are licensed by the Commonwealth's Board of Medicine, the same body that licenses medical doctors. Becoming licensed as a chiropractic doctor involves rigorous testing, even after the awarding of the Doctor of Chiropractic degree.

Another provision of the Virginia code is important to both the chiropractic and the legal professions; viz., the admissibility of expert testimony in court by chiropractors. "A doctor of chiropractic," reads Section 8.01-401.2, "when properly qualified, may testify as an expert witness in a court of law as to etiology, diagnosis, prognosis, and disability, including anatomical, physiological, and pathological considerations within the scope of the practice of chiropractic ..." Thus chiropractic doctors by Virginia statute are considered to be experts and cannot be excluded as experts in their field of medicine.

Nearly 20 years ago, celebrated defense attorney Melvin Belli noted in an article in The Digest of Chiropractic Economics that, while the chiropractic doctor would scarcely expect to be called to testify on a matter that is out of his field, "... the list of what is 'out of his field' is daily being limited, at least by the courts." Of particular interest is Belli's contention, dramatically illustrated by a Michigan case, that chiropractors can testify successfully as to the permanence of an injury, and hence as to future pain and suffering, even against the opinion of orthopedists and other medical men. In that case, Corbin v. Hittle, a chiropractor testified that his patient's injuries were permanent and that he would never be free of pain. Challenged by the defense as reversible error, the testimony was allowed to stand by the appeal court, which said in essence that, since the state allows and regulates the practice of chiropractic as a restricted form of medicine, it must also allow it as expert testimony.

Edward Gross has represented many clients who are patients of chiropractic doctors, and he does not hesitate to call upon them as expert witnesses. Mr. Gross finds these doctors to be well prepared in offering expert testimony and able to demonstrate to juries that they understand their patients' problems.

In reflecting on his successful presentation of the case for Dr. Wilk and his colleagues, Plaintiffs' Attorney George P. McAndrews stated that one of the highlights of the case was the difficulty the plaintiffs had in finding a law firm that was willing to undertake the case. He was told by Dr. Wilk that 15 or 16 other firms that had been approached all found some kind of a conflict, usually representation of some part of the adversary medical community. It took three or four years, Dr. Wilk told him, to find a firm that would take this antitrust case. In retrospect, looking back at that landmark decision, perhaps some of those bashful lawyers would be less reluctant today.

When the victim of a violent collision enters the chiropractor's office seeking relief for his or her considerable pain and discomfort, the stress that patient is experiencing is apparent to the doctor. As the doctor's patient and as the lawyer's client, the victim needs an advocate, a role that the chiropractic doctor and an attorney who understands chiropractic are amply prepared to fulfill.

Negotiate the Insurance Maze

You don't have to know much about auto insurance to know that you should resist the temptation to give in to the adjuster's persuasive offer, "If you'll just sign this release, I'll see that you get paid right away." All too often, though, the injured person may have no better understanding of what insurance coverage is actually available to him than he has of why his neck or his lower back hurts. Frequently the victim of an automobile collision needs as much help in understanding his own insurance policy as he does in knowing what he may recover from the driver at fault.

This is where a good lawyer, who is highly knowledgeable about the workings of insurance, can be most helpful to the chiropractor in leading him and his patient through what has been called "The Insurance Maze." Such an attorney will know where to look for sources of coverage that the policyholder does not know exist (and you can be sure the insurance company isn't going to tell him about them).

The auto insurance policy is a complex contract that provides policyholders with benefits of which they may not be aware. One of these benefits is coverage for medical treatment, which is essential to an accident victim, as well as to the treating doctor. Furthermore, the experienced attorney will try to maximize the client's ultimate recovery by resisting the insurance companies' efforts to recapture payments they have made for treatment. Most people do not realize that in Virginia, under most circumstances, an automobile insurance company may not attempt to recover payments made to an insured after a third-party claim has been paid. In most cases, health insurance benefits are similarly shielded from subrogation.

What about the tendency of some insurers to try to set a cap on payments for medical treatment? The standard definition of medical expense in Virginia auto policies reads in part, "... all reasonable and necessary expenses for medical, hospital, chiropractic [emphasis added], x-ray, professional nursing ... services ... incurred within three years after the date of the accident." Does that mean what it says? You bet! And the accident victim should be able to count on a savvy attorney to fight to get the full insurance benefit to which he is entitled.

Some accident victims know about uninsured motorists coverage that will compensate the insured if the party at fault is uninsured or cannot be located. But, they may not know about Virginia's "underinsured" endorsement, which allows the victim to collect from his own company even though the party at fault may be insured, when the liability limit of the negligent party's policy falls short of his own policy's uninsured motorists coverage.

It is the attorney's ultimate responsibility to locate all sources for compensating his client. The responsible party's insurance may be only one source and often is insufficient. Other potential sources may include policies held by family members, employers and individuals partly responsible for the collision.

If you need help negotiating the insurance maze, contact Gross & Romanick today. One of our attorneys will be more than happy to meet with you to discuss your case.

Personal Injury Law, Wrongful Death Attorneys & Auto Accident Lawyers

If you have been hurt in a car accident or have lost someone you love as the result of the negligent or intentional conduct of another person in Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, Prince William or Loudoun County Virginia, Gross & Romanick can help you. Gross & Romanick understands the stress and anguish you are going through in dealing with your injury, lost income, or unanticipated medical expenses. Gross & Romanick represents injured people and their families in serious personal injury and wrongful death cases like:

* Truck, SUV & Car Accidents
* Traumatic Brain Injuries
* Truck Collisions
* Motorcycle Accidents and Bicycle Accidents
* Pedestrians Hit by Motor Vehicles
* Slips and Falls
* Attacks in Buildings/Premises Liability
* Escalator and Elevator Accidents

You don't have to face your injury or loss alone. Contact Gross & Romanick today.