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What Is an "Independent" Medical Exam (IME) — and How Should I Prepare?

By the Apis Felix Law Trial Team — Licensed in Nevada & UtahAttorney-reviewed — July 4, 2026

If you're in the middle of a personal injury claim in Nevada or Utah, at some point you may be asked — or ordered — to attend an "independent medical exam," almost always shortened to IME. The name is misleading. Understanding who the exam is really for, what it can and can't cover, and how to conduct yourself can make a real difference in how the exam is later used in your case.

For many people, the appointment itself feels routine — a waiting room, an intake form, a physical exam. What isn't obvious from that experience is the role the exam plays afterward: unlike a regular doctor's visit, this one is built into the machinery of the claim from the moment it's scheduled. Knowing that going in changes how most people approach the appointment.

Who the IME doctor works for

Despite the word "independent," the examining doctor is selected and paid by the insurance company or defense side of the case — not by you, and not by your own treating physicians. That arrangement is standard practice in personal injury litigation, and it doesn't automatically mean the exam is unfair or the doctor is dishonest. But it does mean the doctor's role is fundamentally different from the doctor who has been treating you.

A treating physician's job is to diagnose and help you get better. An IME doctor's job is to examine you once, form an opinion relevant to the disputed issues in the claim, and report that opinion to the party that retained them. Recognizing that difference going in helps set realistic expectations for the exam itself.

It's also worth understanding how these doctors are typically selected. Insurance companies and defense firms often work repeatedly with a relatively small pool of physicians who are willing to perform these evaluations, and some of these doctors derive a meaningful portion of their income from doing so. That is a normal, generally lawful part of how litigation medical evidence gets built on both sides — plaintiffs' attorneys likewise work with treating and retained physicians of their own — but it is a useful piece of context for understanding the exam you're about to attend.

What the IME can and can't include

An IME is generally supposed to be limited to the injuries and conditions actually at issue in your claim — not an open-ended review of your entire medical history or unrelated conditions. It typically involves a physical examination, a review of your reported symptoms and history, and sometimes a review of your existing medical records, but it is not treatment: the examining doctor won't be managing your ongoing care, prescribing a treatment plan for you to follow, or acting as your doctor in any ongoing sense.

Nothing about the exam is confidential in the way a normal patient visit is protected. Statements you make, the doctor's observations, and the resulting report are generally understood to become part of the record in the claim or lawsuit — not a private conversation between patient and physician.

The exam is also typically limited in duration and format to what's reasonably necessary to evaluate the disputed injury. If an exam starts to feel like it's drifting into unrelated territory — asking about medical history that has nothing to do with the claimed injury, for example — that's worth noting afterward and mentioning to your lawyer, since it can be relevant to how much weight the resulting report deserves.

Your rights: observers, recording, and scope

You have rights connected to how an IME is conducted, but the specifics are not one-size-fits-all. The rules differ between Nevada and Utah and can depend on court order — we handle these logistics for clients. Questions like whether you can bring an observer, whether the exam can be recorded, and how narrowly the scope of the exam is limited, often depend on the specific order or agreement governing the exam in your case, not on a single blanket rule.

Because these details vary and can matter quite a bit — both for your comfort during the exam and for challenging the report later if something was handled improperly — this is a conversation to have with your lawyer before the appointment, not something to figure out in the waiting room. It's also worth asking, before you go, exactly what the exam is expected to cover, roughly how long it should take, and what to bring (such as a list of current medications or a summary of your treatment history), so there are no surprises on the day.

How to conduct yourself: honest, consistent, complete

The best general guidance for an IME is straightforward: be honest, be consistent, and be complete. That means:

• Describe your symptoms accurately — neither minimizing them (out of a instinct to seem tough) nor exaggerating them. Both can be used against you.
• Be consistent with what you've told your treating doctors. Significant discrepancies between what you tell the IME doctor and what's in your treatment records are a common target for the defense.
• Answer what's asked, without volunteering unrelated history or speculating about things outside your knowledge, like the mechanics of the crash or other people's injuries.
• Show up prepared — know what conditions and body parts are actually at issue in your case, and be ready to describe how your injuries affect daily activities in concrete terms.
• Note anything unusual afterward — how long the exam actually lasted, what tests were or weren't performed, and whether the exam matched what you were told to expect. Writing this down the same day, while it's fresh, can be useful later.

An IME is not the place to argue your case or to try to win over the doctor. It's an examination to get through accurately and honestly, and then let your lawyer address how the resulting report is used.

What happens with the report

Once the exam is complete, the IME doctor prepares a report for the party that retained them — typically the insurance company or defense counsel. That report usually becomes part of the evidence in the claim, and it's common for the defense to use it to challenge your treating physicians' opinions, argue that your injuries are less severe or less related to the crash than claimed, or dispute the necessity of treatment you've received or plan to receive.

Your own legal team can review the IME report, compare it against your treatment records and the actual exam (if there were any irregularities), and respond to it — through your treating physicians, through cross-examination of the IME doctor if the case proceeds that far, or through other evidence. An IME report is one piece of evidence in the case, not the final word.

Because the report can carry real weight later in a case, treating the exam itself as a meaningful event — not an afterthought squeezed between other appointments — is worth the effort. Preparing beforehand, being straightforward during the exam, and documenting your own observations afterward are all steps that put you in a better position when the report eventually surfaces in the claim.

This article is general information, not legal advice; reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. Every case is different, and deadlines and rules change — confirm how the law applies to your situation with a licensed lawyer. Apis Felix Law, a trade name of Deseret Lawyers PLLC. Attorney advertising. Kevin Peterson is the attorney responsible for this content and is licensed in Nevada (Bar No. 14598) and Utah (Bar No. 18723).