What Is an Independent Medical Examination in California?

An independent medical examination in California is an evaluation of an injured person performed by a doctor chosen through the defense or employer side, used to assess the nature, cause, and severity of the claimed injury. The rules split into two very different tracks. In workers’ compensation, the exam runs through the state’s Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME) or Agreed Medical Evaluator (AME) system. In a personal injury lawsuit, it happens under the Code of Civil Procedure as a “physical or mental examination” demanded by the defense. The label “IME” gets used loosely for both, but the procedures, your rights, and the consequences of getting it wrong are not the same.

The Workers’ Compensation Path: QMEs and AMEs

California’s workers’ compensation statutes don’t actually use the term “IME.” When the employer and employee disagree about a medical issue, the dispute goes to a QME or AME instead of a doctor the employer picks on its own.

Labor Code Section 4060 governs disputes over whether an injury is compensable in the first place. If the employer denies the claim or questions compensability, either side can request a comprehensive medical evaluation, but it must go through the QME panel process.¹ For disputes about treatment or permanent disability after the claim has been accepted, Section 4062 requires the objecting party to notify the other side in writing within 20 days for represented employees, or 30 days for unrepresented employees, after receiving the treating physician’s report.²

How the Evaluator Gets Selected

For represented employees, Labor Code Section 4062.2 controls. Either party asks the state’s Division of Workers’ Compensation to assign a three-member panel of QMEs in the requested medical specialty. Each side strikes one name, and the remaining QME performs the evaluation. Miss the ten-day strike window, and the other side picks from whoever’s left.³

Unrepresented employees or claims administrators request a panel using QME Form 105. The Division assigns the panel from QMEs in the relevant specialty, weighted toward offices near the employee’s home, and the selections are random rather than by either party’s preference.⁴⁵

Both sides can skip the panel process entirely by agreeing on a single physician to serve as an AME. That’s typically faster because it avoids the strike procedure, but it takes genuine mutual consent.³

The Personal Injury Path: Defense Medical Examinations

In a civil personal injury case, the rules come from the Code of Civil Procedure, not the Labor Code, and they look nothing like the QME system.

One Physical Exam Without a Court Order

Each defendant may demand one physical examination of a plaintiff who is seeking recovery for personal injuries, so long as the plaintiff’s medical condition is at issue and the exam location is within 75 miles of the plaintiff’s residence.⁶ The demand has to spell out the time, place, manner, conditions, scope, and nature of the examination, plus the examiner’s identity and specialty. It must be served at least 30 days before the exam date.⁷

Anything More Requires a Court Order

A second physical exam, an exam by a different specialist, or a mental examination all require a motion showing good cause. The moving party must describe the proposed examination in detail and show it met and conferred with the other side first.⁸

Mental examinations carry additional protection. If the plaintiff stipulates that no claim is being made for emotional distress beyond what normally accompanies the physical injuries, the court cannot order a mental exam except on a showing of “exceptional circumstances.”⁹

The 75-Mile Rule

For both demanded and court-ordered examinations, the site must be within 75 miles of the examinee’s residence. A court can allow travel beyond that only on a finding of good cause, and the order must require the defense to advance the examinee’s reasonable travel expenses.⁹

Your Rights During the Examination

Observer and Audio Recording

In a personal injury case, the examinee’s attorney, or a designated representative of that attorney, has the right to attend and observe the entire physical examination. The observer can record everything spoken to or by the examinee during any phase of the exam, either stenographically or on audio.¹⁰ If a representative attends in place of the attorney, that person must carry written authorization identifying them by name. This right belongs to the attorney or the attorney’s representative specifically. The statute does not extend it to family members or other companions.

The Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board has applied the same audio-recording right to QME examinations, so injured workers can generally expect to be able to record their evaluation in that setting as well.

Advance Notice

In a civil case, the demand or court order must state the time, place, manner, conditions, scope, and nature of the examination, and identify the examiner and specialty.⁷ In workers’ comp, the QME panel process and formal scheduling serve a similar notice function.

Getting a Copy of the Report

After a personal injury exam, the examinee can demand a copy of the examiner’s detailed written report, including the history reviewed, findings, test results, diagnoses, prognoses, and conclusions. The examinee is also entitled to reports from any earlier exams of the same condition performed by the same or any other examiner the defense retained. The defense has to deliver these within 30 days of the demand, or 15 days before trial, whichever comes first.¹¹

The Privilege Waiver Trade-Off

Requesting the report or deposing the examiner comes with a cost. It waives the examinee’s physician-patient privilege regarding the same medical condition in that case and any related action, meaning the defense becomes entitled to reports from every other doctor who has examined the examinee for the same condition. The exchange runs both ways, but it’s worth thinking through before demanding the report.¹²

No Private Conversations With the Evaluator

Title 8, Section 35 of the California Code of Regulations prohibits ex parte communications with QMEs and AMEs. Neither the employer’s attorney nor the employee’s attorney can have private conversations with the evaluator about the case, and all medical records, correspondence, and information sent to the evaluator must also go to the other side.¹³ The rule exists because the credibility of the QME system depends on the evaluator receiving the same information from both sides. Violations can lead to the report being struck or the evaluator being disqualified.

What Happens If You Skip the Exam

Missing a scheduled examination is one of the most damaging mistakes a claimant or plaintiff can make. In personal injury cases, CCP Section 2032.410 authorizes the court to impose issue sanctions (disputed facts treated as established against you), evidence sanctions (loss of the right to present certain evidence), and terminating sanctions (dismissal of your case or entry of default). Monetary sanctions covering the other side’s attorney fees and costs are also on the table.¹⁴

In workers’ compensation, Labor Code Section 4062.2 provides that the employee “shall not unreasonably refuse to participate in the evaluation.”³ An unreasonable refusal can lead the workers’ comp judge to draw negative inferences about your condition, potentially reducing or denying benefits. If you have a legitimate scheduling conflict, communicate it promptly and reschedule. Don’t just fail to appear.

Challenging a Report You Disagree With

A report that goes against you isn’t the last word. The most common response is a rebuttal from the treating physician, who often has months or years of context that a single-visit evaluator cannot match. In civil cases, your attorney can also depose the examining doctor. Depositions are where bias tends to surface: discrepancies between the report and the treatment record, how much time the examiner actually spent with you, and whether they reviewed all the relevant records.

Your attorney can also retain a separate independent expert to review both the examination report and your full medical history. A second opinion from someone with no stake in the outcome can carry real weight if the case reaches trial or a hearing.

In workers’ comp, both QME and treating physician reports remain admissible before the Workers’ Compensation Appeals Board, so the board isn’t locked into one evaluation over another.¹ AME reports carry particular weight because both sides agreed to the evaluator, making them harder to attack later.

Travel Reimbursement

Injured workers required to travel for a QME evaluation are entitled to mileage reimbursement. Effective January 1, 2026, the Division of Workers’ Compensation set the rate at 72.5 cents per mile, regardless of the date of injury.¹⁵ In personal injury cases, if a court orders an examination more than 75 miles from the examinee’s residence, the defense has to advance reasonable travel expenses as a condition of that order.⁹

1
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 4060
2
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 4062
3
California Legislative Information. California Labor Code Section 4062.2
4
Department of Industrial Relations. California Code of Regulations Title 8 Section 30 – QME Panel Requests
5
Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 8 Section 31 – QME Panel Selection
6
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 2032.220
7
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 2032.220
8
Justia. California Code of Civil Procedure Sections 2032.310-2032.320
9
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 2032.320
10
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 2032.510
11
Justia. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 2032.610
12
Justia. California Code of Civil Procedure Sections 2032.630-2032.640
13
Department of Industrial Relations. California Code of Regulations Title 8 Section 35 – Exchange of Information and Ex Parte Communications
14
California Legislative Information. California Code of Civil Procedure Section 2032.410
15
Department of Industrial Relations. Mileage Rate for Medical and Medical-Legal Travel Expenses