It is well known that when someone seeks compensation benefits through the Workers’ Compensation Act, he or she exposes himself or herself to an exception the doctor patient privacy privilege. When someone places their physical or mental health at issue under the act, the privacy right against disclosing medical records is waived. Much to the detriment of the workers this exception has been used by employers to treat company physicians as the would independent medical examiners.  They often use the doctors as experts and engage in written and verbal communication. In theory, the benefit of using a panel doctor as a defense expert is that a treating physician’s opinion is more valuable than that of a doctor who evaluates someone on one occasion and is paid by the employer to do so. That makes the level of control a defendant has over a treating doctor crucial.  Read more: http://www.law.com/jsp/pa/PubArticlePA.jsp?id=1202637078246&thepage=1&slreturn=20140009115903#ixzz2qJadIuWz.
Christian Petrucci