Mississippi Independent Medical Exam Lawyer
The letter arrives from the insurance carrier: you have been scheduled to see a doctor you have never met, picked by the company that is paying your wage benefits, and the appointment is already on the calendar. At Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC, we represent injured workers throughout Mississippi, and this letter is one of the most consequential pieces of mail a comp claimant will ever get. A Mississippi independent medical exam lawyer can help you prepare for the appointment, challenge a one-sided report, and make sure the doctor’s opinion does not become the reason your benefits stop.
The word “independent” is misleading. In most workers’ compensation claims, the exam is arranged and paid for by the employer or its carrier, and the physician is chosen because the insurer expects a credible, defensible opinion. That opinion can say you have reached maximum medical improvement, that you can return to full duty, that your back condition is degenerative rather than work-related, or that you need less treatment than your own surgeon recommends. Carriers then use that report to cut off wage benefits or deny the surgery your treating doctor ordered.
The exam itself often lasts fifteen or twenty minutes. The report can shape your claim for years. What you say, how you move, and what the examiner writes down all matter, and the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission will weigh that report against everything else in the record.
Why Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for a Mississippi IME Dispute
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm serving injured workers across Mississippi, from Jackson and Madison to Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and the Gulf Coast, as well as South Louisiana. Most lawyers who take comp cases are personal injury attorneys who handle a work injury when one happens to walk in. We built the practice the other way around.
That focus matters when a carrier’s examiner contradicts your treating physician. Rob Lunsford, our founding partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, partners at the firm, have been recognized by Best Lawyers, Super Lawyers, and The National Trial Lawyers, and the firm was ranked by Best Law Firms in 2026 for Workers’ Compensation Law, Claimants, in Jackson. Andrew Rueff has successfully tried dozens of jury and bench trials to verdict and routinely appears before the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission. Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out the attorney team.
The results reflect the kinds of injuries that tend to produce medical-opinion fights: a $685,000 settlement for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, and $385,000 for a project manager who suffered back injuries after being struck in his work vehicle. Together, the firm has recovered more than $100 million for clients. Clients describe a team that listens, stays responsive, and fights the insurance company at every step.
Consultations are free, we advance the costs of your case, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits or a settlement. Attorney fees in comp cases are limited and approved under state law. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and we speak Spanish: hablamos espanol.
Situations Where the Insurer’s Exam Becomes a Weapon
- Back, Neck, and Spine Injuries: Lumbar and cervical disc herniations draw the most aggressive examiner opinions. The standard move is to attribute the condition to degenerative disc disease and say the job only produced a temporary flare-up that has already resolved.
- Shoulder and Knee Tears: Rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, ACL tears, and meniscus tears are often labeled old sports injuries or age-related wear. Examiners may also say surgery is unnecessary and conservative care is enough.
- Maximum Medical Improvement Disputes: An examiner who declares you at MMI can end temporary benefits and start the clock on permanency ratings, even when your surgeon says you are still healing or need another procedure.
- Return-to-Work Releases: Carriers use an examiner’s release to push injured workers back to full duty before they are ready, then argue that refusing to return means benefits should stop.
- Impairment Rating Conflicts: When your doctor and the carrier’s doctor assign different disability ratings, the gap can be worth tens of thousands of dollars in permanent disability benefits.
- Surgery and Treatment Denials: An examiner’s opinion that a recommended surgery, injection series, or specialist referral is not reasonable or necessary is a common basis for refusing to pay.
- Occupational Conditions for First Responders: Firefighter and first responder claims involving hypertension, heart and lung disease, hepatitis, hearing loss, posttraumatic stress, and cancer tied to the job often turn on competing medical opinions about causation.
- Burns and Catastrophic Injuries: Oil field and industrial burn cases involve long-term care needs, and carriers may use an examiner to minimize future treatment and disability.
What to Do When an Exam Notice Arrives
Do not ignore the notice, and do not simply show up unprepared. Call us first. A missed appointment without a good reason can be used against you, while a poorly handled one can hand the carrier exactly the report it wants. We can review the notice, confirm the exam is properly requested, and tell you what to expect before you walk in.
Start by reporting your injury to your employer if you have not already done so. In Mississippi, the injury must be reported within 30 days of the accident, and a claim generally must be filed with the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission within two years of the injury, or within two years of the last compensation payment. The notice and limitations rules are found in Miss. Code section 71-3-35. Missing these deadlines can end a claim before any doctor opinion matters, so an exam dispute should never distract from them.
Before the appointment, write down a clear history: how the injury happened, the date, who saw it, every body part involved, and every symptom. Gather your treating doctor’s records, imaging, and work restrictions. Be accurate and consistent about prior injuries. Examiners look for any past back, knee, or shoulder complaint and build a causation opinion around it, so an omission that looks like concealment is more damaging than the prior condition itself. Describe your pain honestly on your worst days and your typical days. Do not exaggerate, and do not play it down out of politeness either. Examiners are trained to note how you walk, sit, and move, and they often observe you before and after the formal exam.
After the exam, do not assume the report is the last word. Your treating physician can respond to it, and we can ask for the examiner’s records, question the examiner’s methods, and present the conflict to the Commission. Cases are heard at an evidentiary hearing before an Administrative Judge, and an appeal to the Full Commission is a review of the existing record rather than a new trial, which means the medical evidence has to be built correctly at the first hearing. A final award of the Commission can be appealed to the Mississippi Supreme Court within 30 days of its filing and notice to the parties, and the Supreme Court often assigns those cases to the Mississippi Court of Appeals. Review on appeal is limited to the record made before the Commission, so the work of countering a bad medical opinion has to happen early.
How the Commission Weighs Competing Medical Opinions
Mississippi workers’ compensation is administered by the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission, not by a court. Three commissioners, appointed by the Governor with Senate approval, oversee the system, and Administrative Judges hear the contested claims. When a treating surgeon and a carrier’s examiner disagree, the judge decides whom to believe. That decision turns on credentials, how much time each doctor spent with you, how thoroughly each reviewed your records and imaging, whether the opinion fits the mechanism of injury, and whether the doctor’s reasoning holds up under questioning.
This is where preparation pays off. A short exam report with a conclusory opinion is vulnerable. We examine what records the examiner actually reviewed, whether the examiner had the correct job description, whether imaging was interpreted accurately, and whether the opinion ignores the way a physically demanding job can aggravate or accelerate an underlying condition. A pre-existing condition does not automatically defeat a claim. If your work caused, worsened, or sped up the condition, you may still be entitled to benefits.
Wage benefits are also at stake. Temporary and permanent total disability benefits are generally two-thirds of your average weekly wage, subject to a statutory weekly maximum and a cap of 450 weeks, and permanent partial disability in many cases is also limited to 450 weeks. When an examiner’s opinion cuts off or reduces those payments, the financial impact starts immediately, which is why we move quickly to challenge it.
Common Questions About Independent Medical Exams in Mississippi
Is an independent medical exam really independent?
Usually not in the way the name suggests. The examiner is typically selected and paid by the employer or its insurance carrier. That does not make every report wrong, but it does mean you should treat the exam as part of the dispute, not a neutral review, and prepare accordingly.
Do I have to attend the exam the insurer schedules?
Refusing without good cause can jeopardize your benefits. If the date, location, or timing is a problem, such as a conflict with surgery or a drive that your injury makes unreasonable, contact us right away so we can address it with the carrier rather than simply skipping the appointment.
Will the examiner become my treating doctor?
No. The examiner evaluates you for a limited purpose and does not take over your care. Your own authorized treating physician remains the source of your ongoing treatment, and you should keep seeing that doctor.
Can I bring a lawyer or a witness to the exam?
Policies about who may accompany you vary, and the examiner’s office may object. We can advise you on what is permitted in your situation and how to document what happens during the visit, including how long the exam lasted and what was and was not tested.
What if the examiner says my injury is not work-related?
That opinion is a starting point for a fight, not the end of your claim. We gather your treating doctor’s causation opinion, medical records, witness accounts, and work history to show how the job caused or worsened the condition.
Can the insurer stop my benefits based on the exam report?
A carrier may try to suspend or terminate benefits on the strength of a report. If that happens, we can challenge the termination and seek to restore payments by presenting contrary medical evidence to the Commission.
What if my own doctor disagrees with the examiner?
Conflicting opinions are common, and the Administrative Judge resolves them. We work with your treating physician to make sure the opinion is documented clearly, addresses the examiner’s reasoning, and rests on a full review of your records and imaging.
Should I tell the examiner about old injuries or prior claims?
Yes, be truthful. Examiners and carriers often already have prior medical and claims records. A complete, honest history is far safer than an omission they can characterize as dishonesty, and a prior problem does not bar benefits if work caused or aggravated your current condition.
Can I request a second opinion after a bad exam?
Often there are ways to obtain additional medical evaluation, including a treating physician’s rebuttal or another qualified specialist’s opinion. The right route depends on where your claim stands, so talk to us before you choose a doctor.
How does the Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission handle an exam dispute?
The dispute is presented to an Administrative Judge at an evidentiary hearing. If either side is unhappy with the result, the Full Commission reviews the record made at that hearing. Because the review is not a new trial, the medical proof needs to be right the first time.
Do I still need to meet the filing deadlines while the exam is pending?
Yes. A pending exam does not stop the clock. Report the injury to your employer within 30 days and make sure a claim is filed with the Commission within the two-year window. Exceptions can apply when benefits have already been paid, but you should not rely on them without advice.
What if I live in Louisiana but was hurt in Mississippi, or the reverse?
Which state’s system applies depends on the facts of the employment and injury. We handle claims in both Mississippi and Louisiana, so we can sort out where your claim belongs and make sure you do not miss a deadline in either state.
Mississippi Independent Medical Exam Representation Across the State
We represent injured workers throughout Mississippi. Our clients include people in Jackson and Madison and the communities around the capital city, as well as workers in Hattiesburg and the Pine Belt, Southaven and the north Mississippi corridor, the Delta, and the Gulf Coast. We also help workers from smaller communities and rural areas where a long drive to a carrier’s chosen examiner is part of the problem.
The people we serve work as construction workers, firefighters, truck drivers, ironworkers, oil field workers, nurses, and general laborers. Whatever the job and wherever the injury happened, the carrier’s exam process works the same way, and so does our approach to answering it. We also serve injured workers across South Louisiana, including Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Shreveport, as well as north Louisiana.
Talk With a Mississippi Independent Medical Exam Attorney Before the Appointment
If the carrier has scheduled you for an exam, or a report has already arrived that does not match what your own doctor says, speak with a Mississippi independent medical exam attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe before it costs you benefits. Consultations are free, our phones are answered 24 hours a day, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us, tell us what the insurer is saying, and we will tell you how we would respond.
We help injured workers. That is what we do, and we are ready to put that experience to work on your claim.
