Her bio:
Trial & Appellate Lawyer
www.haymanlaw.com
Faith Hayman was called to the Bar of Ontario in 1985 and practiced both defence and plaintiff personal injury law before becoming firmly committed to litigating solely on behalf of the injured and people with disabilities.
She was called to the B.C. Bar in 1993. Here she has developed a successful and respected practice in the areas of personal injury, disability and other insurance law, and mental health law - first with the boutique law firm of Murphy Battista, and now with her own firm.
A popular speaker at the Pacific Coast Brain Injury Conference, and others sponsored by the Trial Lawyers Association of B.C., Canadian Insight, Canadian Institute. and Continuing Legal Education, Faith is known for her compassion, incisive mind, and absolute commitment to justice.
She lives in North Vancouver with her writer husband and two children. When she's not working, you can often find them hiking the north shore trails, Rollerblading around Stanley Park, or gathered around the piano (Faith originally trained as a concert pianist).
Your Question:
My insurance company has told me that they will terminate my
benefits because there is insufficient evidence of disability. What do I
do?
Faith Hayman's answer:
The insurance company is entitled to ongoing proof of disability.
In most cases, the key information is a medical opinion from your treating
doctor(s) explaining not only what your medical condition is, but also how
it limits or prevents you from working. If you haven't already done so, it
is worthwhile preparing a short summary of your training and work
requirements and your problems functioning (no more than 1-2 pages
altogether), and then making an appointment with your doctor to explain this
to your doctor and requesting that he/she provide a report. If necessary,
you should be prepared to pay your doctor for this report. The insurance
company is required to fairly consider your doctor's medical opinion that
you are not able to work.
* The insurer is also required to help secure medical evidence. If
it feels that it doesn't have sufficient evidence, it may send the claimant
for an independent medical examination - emphasis on independent.
* Although I mentioned that the insured should be willing to pay for
the report, that point was only to ensure that the doctor provided a good
report. The cost of securing additional medical information is an issue.
Insurers have the financial resources to obtain medical records and reports,
whereas claimants rarely do. Insurers who unreasonably pass on the cost of their
investigation to insured (e.g. by demanding frequent
reports and records when a person's condition has not changed) may well be
breaching their duties to act in good faith.
Your Question:
I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and have been off work for 3 months. The insurance company has now decided not to support my claim due to lack of objective medical information from my family doctor. I am now facing loss of employment - where do I go from here? Although I am improving, I don't believe I have the energy to work in a stressful situatuon for 8 hrs per day.My family doctor does not seem too helpful and I don't believe she has the knowledge to support me.
Any guidance would be appreciated.
Faith Hayman's answer:
This question raises issues on three fronts:
1. disability issue - without strong medical support, it is very unlikely that the insurer will agree to pay benefits. You will need a strong report from your family doctor. What is important for your family doctor to know is that it is wrong for the insurer to require "objective" medical evidence. It is sufficient for your family doctor to describe your symptoms and how they prevent you from working at your particular job and to conclude in fairly strong terms that at this point, you are unable to work;
2. medical issue - if your family doctor doesn’t understand FM, it may be helpful to refer him/her to sites (such as this) that provide useful medical information concerning this illness;
3. employment issue - your employer is not entitled to terminate your employment after three months because of illness. They are required to keep your job open to you for a reasonable period of time (perhaps a year or two) before deciding that the employment contract is legally "frustrated" because of your inability to work. In the meantime, if you can do some work, they are required to accommodate you to the point of “undue hardship”. However you should consult a lawyer about whether it is wise to try to work if you are in the early stages of a disability and still in the "elimination period" when some disability insurance policies require that you not be able to work at all.
Your Question:
Faith Hayman's answer:
