Whiplash and fraud ?

There has been much in the news recently about the so-called compensation culture and some of the worst instances of the view that fraudulent claims are out of control is the area of whiplash claims.

Certainly there is plenty of evidence that there are areas within our cities with extraordinarily high instances of these accidents and the trouble with whiplash is that it is a muscular injury primarily, so is hard to diagnose accurately and prognosis and symptoms can also be difficult and contentious.

The view that the system is out of control is only strengthened by a new survey of Doctors which indicates that a high proportion believe themselves that the system is being exploited. In particular, the survey found that :-

• 75%  of doctors and physios asked believe that claims for whiplash are prone to fraud.

• Nearly 90% of those asked consider that whiplash may not be the correct classification for road traffic injuries.

• Nearly 50% of those asked were of the view that there is still a tendency for a medical expert providing a report to feel pressure to put a slant on the report they produce.

What are your experiences ? Have you made a whiplash claim and feel that you are wrongly labeled as exaggerating your injury ? Do you think that there is a major issue re these claims ? Please join the debate.