United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

We just found out that the doctor's lawyer wants to have our son be evaluated by their neurologist. I am a little worried that he will want to do the nerve conducting test, which is very painful. Tyler is 3.5 and had the test before when he was just an infant. Has anyone else, who has or had a lawsuit, have to go to another neurologist and if so what did they do to your child. Thank you for any input.
Jennifer

Hi Jennifer,

We had to have our daughter evaluated by the Doctor's legal nuerologist also. I was pretty concerned but our Attorney informed us it was common and a good thing. They need to see the degree of injury. I am not sure if all evals. are the same, but our was completely an office visit. He looked her over, checked her range and limits, asked questions and basically observed. Since our Attorney couldn't be present, I refrained from answering questions and told him he could direct them through our Attorney. Ask you Attorney what should you expect before hand so there are no surprises for you or your child. Best Wishes.

Julie Wolfgram

Our daughter had the nerve condutive test when she was a few months old, I know it must be painful, but they gave her some type of seditive and the test didn't seem to bother her at all. But it really bothered me because her eyes were open, but she had that "nobodys home" look. When she had an MRI done a few months later they gave her something to drink, that literally knocked her out and she slept through the entire procedure, and that was much better. I wish I could remember the difference between the two medications. But being that your son is 3.5 it would seem better to have him completely out.

Take Care

We too, had to take our daughter to the lawyer's doctor(s)for evaluation. I made it clear that they were not to do any invasive procedures. Turns out they didn't want to do extensive testing, but only wanted to see the injury. We all want to think that the "enemy" is evil and wants to hurt us, but in the long run, remember, they are just people hired to do a job. They are not out there to hurt our children, actually, I feel that they have compassion for them ... they just have to be conservative with their feelings! Good luck!

Hi. We had to take (fly) our daughter to appts for the doctor's lawyer. We thought of this as a good thing - the opportunity for even more opinions of her injury and what might help her the most. The doctors we were asked to see just did regular office exams - trying to get an idea of how severe her injury was. It was more of a "routine" sort of thing - we were treated like new patients and they were all very sincere. They just do their job of examining and stating what they observed. Our lawyer never went with us to any appts. There were a few different specialists that my daughter was asked to see and the appts all went fine - without any surprises, and the specialists we saw were all experienced, caring, and supportive. You can always call the neurologist and ask them what to expect during your visit. Good luck to you and I hope your experiences with these appts are also good ones. Christy

The "other side" wanted our child evaluated by another neurologist. We argued that there wasn't a neurologist in our state who understood this injury sufficiently. Our baby had an EMG at our local children's hospital; it was an inaccurate assessment because the damage was much more severe than it indicated (surgery was at TCH at 5 mo.). By the time of a second opinion by someone of their choice, it was well past primary and we were getting results plus our child was great at compensating. End of story: we never did get the evaluation. Maybe if we'd gone to trial (we settled 1mo. prior to trial)they would have demanded it. We had a surface EMG done by Dr. Nelson at TCH at 7 mo. post-primary...much less painful than a standard EMG and a second surface EMG done at 3.5 years old.

I highly doubt that a neurologist asked for his opinion in a med malpractice suit would do an EMG, at least without warning.

Jennifer....we also had to take Kyle to be evaluated by the defense lawyers choice of neurologist. I welcomed the chance to get another opinion for Kyle. He was seen at John Hopkin's. The Doctor was very knowledgable on BPI's. He let us know right up front that even though it was for a law suit, the visit would be just like any other. He stated that he was there just for the best interest of the child. He basically just asked alot of questions about Kyle's recovery and things he could/couldn't do. Then he did a full evalutation of Kyle. No testing done. The visit was very nice. I even felt the written up report leaned more in our favor. I wouldn't worry about them doing any invasive testing. So how are the boys doing? We need to get together soon with all the families in our area. It has been so long since I've seen all the kids. Kyle has two more weeks left of his 24 hr splint. Maybe after he is doing well out of the splint we can plan something. Take care.
Karrie & Kyle