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Are patients exaggerating whiplash claims?
Are patients exaggerating whiplash claims?
According to a survey by car insurers London Victoria, 9 out of 10 doctors believe that they have seen at least one patient in the last two years who they thought were exaggerating the symptoms of whiplash in order to pursue a fraudulent insurance claim.
The main reason for this notable increase in exaggerated or entirely fraudulent claims seems to be due to a marked rise in the advertising drive by personal-injury lawyers. Around a fifth of claimants interviewed said that they were prompted to make a claim as a direct result of seeing an advertisement. London Victoria’s research has found that, since 2009, insurers have spent over £80 million on advertising alone. While it may appear on the surface that the ‘no win, no fee’ practice is a good one for the consumer, insurers often charge the company they are claiming from and these fees can often outweigh the compensation received by the claimant. Ultimately, the burden of these apparently altruistic services is passed on to the public in other ways.
Nicolas Jervis, managing director of personal injury claims specialists 1stClaims, believes that fighting fraud is the key to solving this problem. He says that: “dealing with personal injury claims costs the NHS around £8 million each year. The majority of this is made up of consultation fees, as every case has to be verified by a GP. As a result of the spike in fraudulent claims, doctors are far more likely to give each case extra scrutiny which, while it may help to weed out fraudulent or exaggerated cases, may slow up the process for those with genuine claims.”
Doctors getting more cautious
Nicolas’ predictions seem to already have some foundation. London Victoria has reported that around 50% of doctors say that they will treat whiplash claims with more wariness and around 25% of those interviewed said that they have already refused to sign a letter or medical form for a personal injury claim that did not meet their diagnosis.
Nicolas feels that one of the major obstacles to any medical practitioner is the nature of whiplash itself: “Whiplash injuries are notoriously difficult to diagnose with any accuracy. The major symptoms, such as headaches, dizziness and loss of mobility in the extremities are the result of internal injuries; primarily: torn or bruised muscles and over-extended vertebrae. With little or no external injuries to help a doctor with the diagnosis, they are often reliant on the testimony of the claimant. With no concrete method to prove or disprove whiplash, it is little wonder that it is possibly the most exaggerated or faked injury in the insurance industry.”
Looking at the advertising
In addition, Lord Young, the governmental adviser on Health and Safety Law, has proposed a restriction on the way that ‘no win, no fee’ lawyers are allowed to advertise. While this may not cut to the core of the problem, it might begin to have an effect on the number of fraudulent claims made - claims that are responsible for almost 50% of the cost of an average car insurance policy.
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