Dr Richardson’s editorial on ICBC injury claims [BCMJ 2012;54:117 [9]] obviously hit a nerve with those profiting under the present system. To put the size of the problem into perspective, in 2011 ICBC paid out $661 million in claims to people where a neck injury was the primary complaint—that equals $150 for every man, woman, and child in the province. Legal costs for the defence of claims amounted to $114 million of these costs. With contingency fees often at 30%, much of the remaining $547 million also went to the legal profession and their “medical consultants.” Remember this $661 million is only for neck claims—so this is only the tip of the iceberg.
This is an outrage. Imagine what the province could do in health care with another $661 million a year.
Surely, as Dr Richardson stated in his editorial, there is a better way of arbitrating these claims. Early mobilization and early return to part-time or full-time employment is proven to be the most efficacious way to treat cervical sprains. I encourage you all to contact your MLA to put pressure on ICBC to devise a way to put this $661 million to better use—helping patients rather than squandering it on litigation.
—John Walton, MD
Castlegar
Links
[1] https://bcmj.org/cover/september-2012
[2] https://bcmj.org/author/john-walton-md
[3] https://bcmj.org/node/4505
[4] https://bcmj.org/print/letters/re-supreme-court-clogged-icbc-cases
[5] https://bcmj.org/printmail/letters/re-supreme-court-clogged-icbc-cases
[6] http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/re-supreme-court-clogged-icbc-cases
[7] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Re: Supreme Court clogged with ICBC cases&url=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/re-supreme-court-clogged-icbc-cases&via=BCMedicalJrnl&tw_p=tweetbutton
[8] https://bcmj.org/javascript%3A%3B
[9] https://bcmj.org/issues/supreme-court-plugged-icbc-cases
[10] https://bcmj.org/modal_forms/nojs/webform/176
[11] https://bcmj.org/%3Finline%3Dtrue%23citationpop