Independent medical expert

Who is concerned ?

Every individual that suffers from a damage onto his physical and/or psychological integrity caused by an accident or one or several diseases, and that, in order to perceive an compensation (/indemnity) or assert his rights, must be evaluated by a medical expertise.

Every year, in Belgium, several thousands of individuals are victims of an accident that provokes relatively severe:

Traffic accidents (pedestrian, cyclist, biker, car driver, passenger)
Work or on the way to work accidents
Diverse accidents involving a third party responsibility or covered by an insurance (dog bite, slide in a public or private space, pushing at school or in the metro, ski or football fall, …)
Accident or medical malpractice
Assault
…

Furthermore, tens of thousands of patients are “in demand” and, frequently, in medical disagreement with a social institution (“Mutuelles”, INAMI, Handicap Help Service, Professional Diseases Funds, Medical Accidents Funds, …)

To sum up, every accident or disease victim that wishes to assert his/her right to be compensated.

What’s the goal of this website ?

This website aims at informing every victim about their right to be defended regarding the medical evaluation of their personal injuries and other deficiencies, by their own expert medical advisor, also known as referral doctor which he/she is free to choose. It appears elementary but, because of the lack of information, it is very frequent to see victims without their own medical advisor.

In France, the « Badinter » law from the 05.07.1985 forces the insurance companies to inform every victim of this fundamental right via a clearly visible frame.
This still can’t be said about Belguim, which is regrettable from a legislative point of view and which, from a practical perspective, deprives the victim from a capital information.

Is it important?

It is essential, in order to defend the interests of every accident victim, since these are the opposite of those of the insurance company that must grant the indemnity. In order to be in an egalitarian situation, meaning to be able to “fight on equal terms” in a way, we can say that logically, it is of the utmost importance.

In other terms, the victim should never accept an expertise solely realized by the insurance company doctor. As soon as possible, he/she must contact his/her own medical expert, or else to risk an important under evaluation of his/her prejudice.

This principle is also true in order to assert the rights of the patients that are in litigation regarding a medical decision taken by a social institution.

And in the practice ?

Dans les faits, assez peu de victimes sont opportunément et adéquatement renseignées quant à la procédure à suivre sur le plan médico-légal après l’accident.

Ainsi, lorsqu’elles sont systématiquement convoquées au cabinet du médecin conseil de la compagnie d’assurances qui doit les indemniser, la plupart s’y rendent sans l’assistance et sans avoir consulté leur médecin expert, puisque elles n’en ont pas.

Trop souvent, hélas, c’est donc sur base de cette seule et unique expertise médicale unilatérale faite par le médecin conseil de la compagnie d’assurance qui doit payer, et à sa demande, que se calculera l’indemnisation, ce qui n’est pas du tout équitable.

In actual fact, only a few victims are opportunely and adequately informed regarding the procedure to follow from the medico-legal standpoint after the accident.

Therefore, when they are systematically called to the medical advisor’s practice of the insurance company that must compensate them, the majority of the victims go without the assistance and without having priory consulted their medical advisor, since they don’t have any.

Too often, sadly, it is then on the basis of the sole and unique unilateral medical expertise done by the insurance medical advisor that the indemnity will be calculated, which is really not fair.

Attention

Yes, the victim has the right to be assisted by his/her medical expert and to choose him/her freely. But on the basis of which criterions will he/she be able to do so?

It’s evident that the victim has every interest in operating a pertinent selection and choosing based on competence, experience and absolute independence regarding the insurance companies and every other organism granting indemnities.

In need of an independent medical expert?

Un expert indépendant vous permet de garder le contrôle sur la défense de vos intérêts !

An independent expert allows you to keep control over the defense of your interests!