Beware ICBC’s Multidisciplinary Triage Assessment
Focus first on your recovery
When you or someone close to you is injured in an accident it is vital that you focus first on taking care of your health by doing what’s needed to help you recover from the injuries you have sustained. Some people recover from their injuries with time, others need the help of qualified medical and health care professionals to recover, and still others need help in learning to live with injuries that will never completely heal. The first thing we say to our injured clients is to focus first on your recovery.
Some injured people are surprised to see that ICBC is mirroring this language. ICBC may emphasize their commitment to “improving the customer experience” or how they want to “provide streamlined care for our injured customers” so injured people can “focus on their immediate recovery needs and get back to their lives as quickly as possible”.
One of the ways ICBC proposes to “help” people with their recovery is to undergo assessment by what ICBC is calling its ICBC multidisciplinary triage assessment.
ICBC multidisciplinary triage assessment
Superficially, the multidisciplinary triage assessment sounds admirable. Early intervention, immediate access to treatment and timely support can all be helpful to injured people. And there is increasing evidence that multidisciplinary health care teams are far more likely to provide injured people with the kinds of integrated care approaches that help to treat the whole person. But think carefully about what might be required of you to undergo an assessment of your injuries by an ICBC multidisciplinary triage assessment team.
Unintended consequences of injury assessment by ICBC
Our experience to date is that the assessments that ICBC uses as part of this multidisciplinary triage – a type of “enhanced file handling” by ICBC – may induce injured people to make comments, statements or disclosures that go well beyond the expert medical evidence that is used and relied upon by the courts. This may lead people who are unaware of the ways of ICBC to inadvertently undermine their claims for damages for their injuries.
Having access to a team of experienced personal injury lawyers and claims managers who advocate for your interests is invaluable. The team of lawyers at Spraggs & Co. focus on protecting your legal rights and advocating for your interests so that you can focus on your recovery.
If you have been injured in an accident and ICBC has “helpfully” referred you to an interdisciplinary triage assessment team, we may be able to assist you. Contact us to arrange a no-obligation consultation.
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