by Richard Craig
11 November 2011
Seventy-five per cent of healthcare professionals believe that the way in which whiplash claims are evaluated and paid is open to corruption, reports the Law Gazette.
In a survey conducted by three leading insurers and rehabilitation provider HCML, 90% of the respondents believe that whiplash claims could be classified under a different term, whilst nearly half, 47%, of GPs believe the current regulations encourage a diagnosis of whiplash for maximum gain to the victim.
The survey was conducted amongst more than 500 GPs as well as consultants and physiotherapists.
Former justice secretary Jack Straw criticised the law earlier this year when he said that whiplash diagnoses are given by ‘third-rate doctors, in the pay of claims management companies or personal injury lawyers’.