By: John Walton, MD
Re: Courts plugged with ICBC cases
Issue: BCMJ,
vol. 54, No. 5, June 2012,
Page 227 Letters
Congratulations on the editorial suggesting a change to how ICBC injury claims are arbitrated.
Before leaving active medical practice several years ago I noticed how a number of patients involved in minor accidents had consulted a lawyer soon after their accidents. Their complaints in the office often seemed scripted and they often had been prompted to be seen each month and have their complaints recorded. Many of these patients had no objective physical or radiologic signs of injury.
At the time I discovered that ICBC paid out in 1 year, on neck claims alone, as much money as was paid to all the general practitioners in the province in that year. Contingency fees are so lucrative that the legal profession can’t resist gaming the system.
Now from your editorial we realize that criminal cases cannot get to the Supreme Court of BC in a timely manner because of the massive number of ICBC personal injury claims in the queue. This is an outrage and reflects badly on the legal and medical professions.
It will be difficult to put an end to this charade with so many profiting from it, but like an abscess, this system is rotten at the core, growing, and needs to be lanced. Let’s have the courage to take a knife to this problem before the professions lose more credibility with the public.
