Ebrahim and colleagues,1 identify important ethical and legal concerns relating to independent medical evaluations (IMEs). The authors1 question whether the patient (examinee) has the right to receive a copy of the independent medical evaluation report. However, the current clinical standard in Canada, which is reinforced by legislation, is that patients do have a right to their health information. For example, the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act and the corresponding provincial acts guarantee that the patient has access to health information and the right to ask for corrections to be made where necessary.
Also, the assumption is that the patient has given consent for the collection of the health information. One might want to consider whether giving free consent is possible for patients, when the consequence of withholding consent is the loss of disability benefits.
The authors1 also emphasize that physicians undertaking an IME are not in a treatment relationship with the patient. Therefore, it becomes problematic when these physicians make treatment recommendations, because this runs contrary to medical practice regulatory requirements.