Attend medical examinations information

• When attending a doctor for a physical examination in respect of physical injury, you should remember to take your x-ray and scans to enable the doctor to review these results.


• If you are not proficient in English ensure that an interpreter will be present at the examination. If you need an interpreter and you have not been told that one will be attending, contact your claims agent and request that the interpreter be arranged.


• Try to arrive well before your examination so that you are in a calm and unflustered state. This will make the examination go more smoothly.


• Ensure that your account of your history and of your symptoms is as accurate as possible. It is extremely important that when you are describing symptoms, that you are clinically precise about what you experience. This also applies to demonstrating the range of motion of your spine, arm, leg etc. It is an understandable tendency that a person being examined wishes to communicate to the Examiner the significant level of their disability. Some people do this by being very guarded in examination by restricting their movements during the examination. If the activity starts to cause pain, tell the Examiner in a matter-of-fact way. Restricting your range of motion can be counterproductive as the Medical Examiner has many ways crosschecking the range of movement in the course of an examination. If the Medical Examiner comes to the conclusion that the person being examined is 'unreliable' the Examiner will not place any weight on the person's complaints of symptoms, and will only be influenced by clinical evidence of injury e.g. on x-ray etc.


• Be as accurate as possible about your level of activity. A medical practitioner may, for example, ask about whether you are able to undertake gardening washing the car and other activities. This may be relevant to your capacity to undertake work etc. A denial of undertaking certain activities can adversely affect a claim if it is demonstrated at a later stage that you have been able to undertake that activity. This is not because of the performance of the activity but rather because of the effect on claimant's credibility. Conceding that you wash your car but experienced pain afterwards would not have an adverse effect on a claim.


• A medical practitioner who is obtaining a history of injury from you may ask whether you have had any similar injury in the past. This may be relevant in assessing the effects of your work injury or your condition. It is important to appreciate that the WorkCover Authority may obtain access to your medical records to court in later proceedings. Trying to be as accurate as possible with your medical history is also very important. It is important that you put any previous similar injury in to proper perspective. For example, if you are asked about a prior back injury which was minor many years ago, you should disclose it, but put it in its proper perspective i.e. "it only lasted a day or so and that it did not interfere with my work" etc.


• It is possible that WorkCover will arrange for you to be examined by a psychiatrist. This type of examination is often more difficult than physical examination as a psychiatrist will need to obtain detailed information about your background, education and upbringing. This can sometimes be very distressing, but it is often unavoidable when the psychiatrist has been asked to comment on whether your condition has come from work or from other causes. When attending this type examination you should be prepared to encounter some of these questions, which may not seem relevant to you. It is necessary, to a degree, for a psychiatrist to ask these questions. There is, of course, a limit to what is relevant and if you believe that the questioning is not appropriate, you should discuss this with the Examiner.
  

An Examiner retained by the WorkCover Authority is required to conduct their examinations on a proper professional basis. If you believe that the Examiner has failed to meet the standard you can report the matter to the WorkCover Authority. If the examination involved serious unprofessional conduct, the matter could also be reported to the Medical Board of Victoria.