It has now been sixty four months since I was involved in what insurance companies refer to as an MVA (motor vehicle “accident”). I have touched on this topic in past posts but thought perhaps this personal journey was worthy of a follow-up.
In September of 2019 I was rear ended while sitting in traffic at a red light. Although of course the intensity of the collision is disputed by the “plaintiff” who claims they were travelling less than 20kph (12mph) in an 80kmh(50mph) traffic zone, the just over $14,000cdn in damage to my less than two year old SUV would debate their estimate on the speed they were moving when the made contact with my vehicle.
There was an impressive turnout by our local first responders. We had paramedics, fire department, and police all in attendance along with a tow truck.
Now I should mention that approximately a year earlier in 2018 I had just completed treatment for “head/neck” cancer. I had tongue cancer but at the time of the accident I was (and still am) cancer free.
The reason I mention this is because it plays a significant role in insurances companies quest to pin all of my issues on my “pre existing condition”.
Now back to the scene. I was tended to by the paramedics who offered to transport me to the hospital because I was immediately feeling some heat and tightening in my back and neck. I of course did the “tough guy” thing and convinced myself I would fine and declined going to the hospital.
The next morning I went to see my family physician that diagnosed me with whiplash and prescribed me massage and physio therapy.
I awoke on day three with my neck completely seized and had lost the ability to swallow anything orally. (Before the accident I was taking “solid” foods through a feeding tube but had still retained and was improving my ability to consume liquids orally).
Now the dance begins….
There was a sense of panic that came with a sustained pain like I had never experienced before.
I was unable to swallow anything. Not even my spit. It was an experience I could only imagine compares to extreme claustrophobia. I was also unable to tolerate zero contact.
Massage was an absolute impossibility. The level of pain without having anyone touch my neck or back had me clenching my toes and due to my pre existing condition, my medical team was against the use of any of the normal modalities of electronic muscle stimulation or Botox therapies.
After dealing with our personal health coverage and speaking with our insurance company, a good friend suggested that we should contact an attorney. We set an appointment with an attorney and after a consultation, we retained a firm that stepped in to make sure that I would get the treatments and whatever might be necessary to assist me in my recovery.
I was thankful that I had paid a premium on my insurance policy to boost my personal coverage to $1,000,000.00. What followed was years of spotty treatments, therapies and a boat load of denials.
Anyone that has been involved in this process is also going to be familiar with the term I.E.. I am very well acquainted with the Independant Examinations.
These examinations may include but not be limited to physical and psych evaluations and I have been through plenty of them
During these examinations they score you on what is called an F.B.I. scale. That is not an interrogation by the bureau, although it feels like it could be, it stands for Full Body Impairment.
As well as this it sometimes just involves a visit to their physician of choice looking for an opinion of what they believe to be the route of my issues.
Whenever I get a favourable review from one of their physicians, it is pretty certain that I do not see that physician again.
One of the purposes of these E.I.s is also to help determine if my injuries classify as catastrophic or not. I believe that I was told by my lawyer the grade or mark to meet the cat. designation is 55%. On my last examination my score was listed as one of the highest my lawyer or the insurance adjuster had ever seen at 74% due to effects of the MVA.
This should have easily allowed the cat designation which is important in opening additional support benefits up to ( recall this number from earlier in this post) $1,000,000.00.
Now I mention this because I recently received notice that after going back to their physicians to acquire new reports they have adjusted my score to 50%. Just below qualification for cat. designation.
????
Now also remember that I had already been paying to receive $1,000,000.00 worth of coverage without any cat. designation. This is where they have the courtesy of sending me a monthly statement of coverage that almost seems like a bit of a brag to show that in the “available” benefits column over five plus years that they have managed to relinquish substantially less than 5% of my million dollar coverage thank you to Denial Denial Denied
It almost seems criminal that they can creatively find a way after five years of feeding me a full buffet of crap sandwiches to reduce a score of 74 to just low enough to deny me once again.
Now my lawyer says they will fight this of course.
So the fight continues has it unapologetically saps even more life out of me than my cancer adventure did.