Louisiana Independent Medical Exam Lawyer
The letter arrives from the insurance company with a date, a time, and the name of a doctor you have never met, and it says you are required to attend. Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC represents injured workers throughout Louisiana and Mississippi, and a request for a Louisiana independent medical exam lawyer is one we hear often from clients whose benefits suddenly hinge on an appointment they did not choose.
The name is misleading. In a workers’ compensation claim, an “independent” medical examination is usually arranged and paid for by the employer or its insurer, and the physician they select is often one the carrier uses repeatedly. The report that comes out of a twenty-minute visit can be used to argue that you are healed, that your condition is not work-related, or that you can return to a job your own surgeon says you cannot do. That is why the exam deserves preparation rather than a shrug.
There is another side to the same tool. Louisiana law also gives a worker routes to a second medical opinion, and when the treating doctor and the carrier’s doctor disagree, the workers’ compensation judge has mechanisms to resolve the conflict. Knowing which version of the exam you are facing, and what rights come with it, shapes everything that follows.
Why Injured Workers Choose Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe for IME Disputes
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe PLLC is a workers’ compensation firm serving injured workers across Louisiana and Mississippi, including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Shreveport, and communities throughout South Louisiana and north Louisiana. Clients pay nothing up front, consultations are free, the firm advances the costs of the case, and fees are collected only if benefits or a settlement are recovered. Phones are answered 24 hours a day, and Spanish-speaking clients can work with the team in their own language.
That experience matters in an IME dispute because these fights are won on medical evidence. Rob Lunsford, the firm’s founding partner, has spent his entire legal career representing injured workers. Brad Baskin and Jennifer Priebe, both partners, 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 Keaton Belk and Erin Heimlicher round out a team that handles claims before Louisiana workers’ compensation judges and on appeal.
The results reflect the kind of injuries where carrier-hired doctors tend to push back hardest: a $685,000 settlement for a surgical tech with a lower back injury, $600,000 for a construction worker with a complex back injury, $385,000 for a project manager injured when his work vehicle was struck, and $221,000 for a land-based oil rig worker with severe burns. The firm has recovered more than $100 million in settlements overall. Clients consistently describe a team that listens, stays responsive, and fights the insurance company at every step.
Where an Insurance Exam Does Its Damage in a Louisiana Claim
- Back, neck, and spine injuries: Carrier doctors frequently attribute lumbar and cervical disc herniations to degenerative disc disease, treating years of physical labor as ordinary aging. A well-prepared claimant and a strong treating-physician record are the answer.
- Shoulder and knee tears: Rotator cuff tears, SLAP tears, ACL injuries, and meniscus tears are often relabeled as old sports injuries in an exam report, even when the worker was symptom-free before the incident.
- Return-to-work opinions: An examiner who releases you to full duty can end temporary total disability benefits overnight, even if your surgeon has you on restrictions.
- Supplemental earnings benefits: Louisiana pays these when you return at reduced earnings, and carriers use exam findings and vocational opinions to claim you can earn more than you actually do.
- Surgery and treatment denials: When your doctor recommends surgery, the carrier may send you to its own physician to say it is unnecessary, setting up a formal medical dispute.
- Burns and catastrophic injuries: Oil rig, plant, and industrial site injuries involve permanent impairment questions where a carrier examiner’s rating can sharply reduce settlement value.
- Firefighter and first responder illnesses: Heart and lung disease, hypertension, hepatitis, PTSD, and cancer claims invite causation arguments, and the exam is where the carrier builds them.
- Pre-existing conditions: A prior injury does not end a claim if the job caused, worsened, or accelerated the condition, but an exam report that blurs the line can put your benefits at risk.
Before, During, and After the Exam: A Practical Guide
Start by treating the exam notice as a deadline-driven event, not a formality. Read exactly what the letter says, note the date and the physician’s name and specialty, and send a copy to your attorney right away. Missing an appointment without a good reason hands the carrier an argument to suspend benefits, so do not simply skip it. If the date conflicts with a surgery, therapy, or work obligation, ask to reschedule in writing and keep proof that you did.
Gather your own records before you go. Bring a list of every body part that hurts, your treating doctor’s name, your current medications, and an honest account of prior injuries, including old sports injuries and earlier back problems. Examiners compare what you tell them against your medical history, and a gap between the two is the easiest way to lose credibility. Do not exaggerate, and do not downplay. Describe your symptoms, what makes them worse, and what you can no longer do at work or at home.
Treat everything about the visit as part of the evaluation. The examiner may watch how you walk in from the parking lot, how you sit, and how you move on the table. Be polite, answer the questions asked, and do not argue about your claim or discuss fault. Afterward, write down how long the exam lasted, what was and was not tested, and anything the examiner said. A fifteen-minute visit that results in a detailed report is a point worth making later.
The report itself is not the final word. When the carrier’s doctor disagrees with your treating physician, you have options, and the first is usually to get your own doctor to respond to the examiner’s findings. Louisiana also has a formal process for medical treatment disputes. If the carrier denies requested treatment, the aggrieved party has 15 calendar days from written notice of the denial to file Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation, and the OWC medical director then has 30 calendar days to issue a decision. If you disagree with that decision, you have 45 days from the date it was issued to file Form 1008, and that clock runs from issuance, not from the day the letter reaches you. These windows are short, and they are one reason to involve a lawyer early.
Claims in Louisiana are heard by workers’ compensation judges at the OWC district offices, which sit in cities including New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, Lake Charles, Monroe, and Shreveport. The worker generally elects the venue: the parish where the injury happened, the parish where you lived when hurt, or the parish of the employer’s principal place of business. A final judgment can be appealed to the appropriate Louisiana court of appeal, with a 30-day window for an appeal that suspends the judgment and 60 days for one that does not. Those periods run from the day after the judgment was signed or the day after notice of judgment was mailed, whichever is later.
How Medical Disputes Usually Play Out
A typical IME dispute follows a recognizable arc. The carrier schedules an exam, the examiner’s report minimizes the injury or points to a pre-existing cause, and the adjuster uses the report to deny a procedure or cut off wage benefits. From there the case turns on the quality of the competing medical evidence. A treating surgeon who has operated on you, reviewed your imaging, and documented your restrictions usually carries more weight than a physician who saw you once for a short visit, but only if the record is built carefully and the objections are raised on time.
Many disputes settle after the medical picture is clarified. Others go to a hearing before a workers’ compensation judge, who weighs the testimony and records and decides which opinion to credit. Preparation at the front end, including accurate histories, consistent reports to every provider, and a treating doctor who understands the physical demands of your job, tends to decide how the back end looks.
The related benefits also have time limits worth knowing. In Louisiana you should report the injury to your employer within 30 days, and a formal claim generally must be filed within one year of the accident, with extensions possible when benefits have already been paid. Supplemental earnings benefits are paid at 66 2/3% of the difference between your pre-injury wages and what you earn or are able to earn, when you cannot earn 90% or more of your pre-injury wages, and they are capped at 520 weeks, with temporary total disability weeks counting toward that total.
Questions About Louisiana Independent Medical Exams
Do I have to attend an exam the insurance company schedules?
Generally, yes. Refusing or skipping an exam without a legitimate reason can give the carrier grounds to suspend your benefits. If you have a conflict, communicate it in writing, ask to reschedule, and tell your attorney before the date passes.
Is an “independent” medical exam actually independent?
Often not. In a workers’ compensation claim the examiner is typically chosen and paid by the employer or insurer. That does not make the opinion worthless, but it means the report should be tested against your treating physician’s records rather than accepted at face value.
Can I bring my lawyer or a witness to the exam?
Policies vary by examiner and by the circumstances, so ask your attorney before the appointment. Even if no one can accompany you into the exam room, your lawyer can prepare you in advance and challenge the report afterward.
What if the exam doctor says I can go back to work and my doctor disagrees?
That conflict is exactly where disputes are decided. Your treating physician can respond to the examiner’s findings, and the dispute can be taken before a workers’ compensation judge, who weighs both opinions. Do not return to work against your own doctor’s restrictions without talking to your attorney first.
How long do I have to challenge a denial of medical treatment?
If treatment is denied, the aggrieved party has 15 calendar days from receiving written notice to file Form 1009 with the Office of Workers’ Compensation. The medical director then has 30 calendar days to decide. A further challenge through Form 1008 must be filed within 45 days of the date the decision was issued.
Will the examiner see my old injuries?
Yes, or they will ask about them, and carriers also pull prior medical and claims records. Be truthful about earlier problems. A pre-existing condition does not automatically end a claim if your job caused, worsened, or accelerated it, but hiding history is far more damaging than disclosing it.
Can the carrier use one exam report to stop my wage benefits?
It can try. A release to work or a finding of reduced impairment is a common basis for terminating or reducing temporary total disability or moving a claim toward supplemental earnings benefits. A contradicting opinion from your treating doctor and a timely challenge can keep payments in place.
Do I have any say in who examines me?
Your options depend on the type of dispute and where the claim stands, which is a question for your attorney. In some situations a worker can pursue a second medical opinion, and when the opinions conflict, the court has ways to resolve it.
Does the exam affect a settlement?
Very much so. Impairment ratings, causation opinions, and future-treatment recommendations in an exam report shape how a claim is valued. A strong rebuttal from your own physician can move that number significantly, which is why the medical record is built with settlement in mind.
What if I was hurt in a car or truck wreck while working?
You may have a workers’ compensation claim and a separate injury claim against the at-fault driver. Louisiana’s delictual claims generally carry a two-year period for injuries on or after July 1, 2024, and fault rules have recently changed, so the two claims need to be coordinated carefully.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer if I only received an exam notice?
Often, yes. The exam is where many disputes begin, and a short consultation before the appointment costs you nothing. Consultations are free, and fees are paid only if benefits or a settlement are recovered.
Louisiana Workers’ Compensation Clients Across the State
Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe serves injured workers throughout Louisiana, from New Orleans and the surrounding communities of South Louisiana to Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and Lake Charles. The firm also represents clients in Shreveport and across north Louisiana, along the industrial corridors where plant, refinery, and oil field work produce serious injuries, and in the rural areas between the larger cities. Workers hurt on the job anywhere in the state can bring a claim before the Office of Workers’ Compensation and, if necessary, take it to the Louisiana courts of appeal.
The firm’s work extends across the Mississippi line as well, covering Jackson, Madison, the Gulf Coast, Hattiesburg, Southaven, the Delta, and north Mississippi. Whether the claim involves a construction worker, truck driver, nurse, firefighter, oil field worker, or general laborer, the same issue tends to come up: a carrier doctor’s report that does not match what the injured worker and the treating physician know to be true.
Speak With a Louisiana IME Attorney Before the Exam
If an insurance company has scheduled you for an examination, a Louisiana independent medical exam attorney at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe can help you prepare, respond to the report, and challenge a denial before the short deadlines run out. Our phones are answered 24 hours a day, consultations are free, and you pay no fee unless we recover benefits for you. Call us to talk through your situation, or send in your case details so we can start reviewing your records.
