Step 4: Being aware of being videotaped

So let's say you have been receiving workers compensation for a legitimate shoulder injury that has prevented your ability to perform you job as an auto mechanic because lifting your arm above your head for long hours causes intense pain. The insurance company is tired of paying your claim and frankly, is doubtful that your claim is legitimate to begin with. They tried sending you for IME's, getting you to meet deadlines, etc., all of which you have done, and you were able to maintain your benefits. What can you expect next? Well, there is no guarantee this will happen, but one technique the insurance companies use is to hire investigators to follow you in public places and video tape your actions -- with purpose of documenting that you can do what you claim you cannot do. Yes, I'm serious. I know because I've reviewed these tapes before.

Do I object to the video taping? No. The reason is because I have reviewed video tapes of patients I previously concluded were likely malingering (faking for external gain) and the videotaped evidence confirms it. For example, when you have a patient hobbling into your office with a cane after a very minor injury and videotape shows the person going to all medical appointments like this but later jogging in the neighborhood and walking out of the store with a bag in one hand and adeptly balancing two pizzas in the other, this is pretty damming evidence. I support the use of video tape to uncover malingerers because such people make insurance prices rise for honest citizens.

The problem I have is when these video tapes are used to destroy the claims of people with legitimate injuries. Let's take the case I discussed earlier of the auto mechanic. Let us say video tape shows him carrying his garbage to the street or carrying some relatively heavy groceries inside (e.g., a 12 pack). This can be twisted to suggest that the patient is lying about his claim, when in actuality, the patient is just trying to live as normal of a life as possible and even though he is using the injured arm, feels pain afterwards and needs to take pain medication. That won't all be shown on the tape because the video tapes cannot be placed in the house. But the point is this: if you have a legitimate medical injury that you say limits your functioning, you need to be careful about what you do in public because your actions can be used to hurt you in the long run. So listen to the doctor when he says don't overdo it. Click here for the next post.