Dr D said something today about my having done a lot of work in the form of my own rehabilitation. I have been working very hard on trying to understand my deficits, and in finding ways of addressing them. But all of this effort took place within the context of an ongoing insurance claim. This was a vision of rehabilitation within the context of a measure of financial security provided by the insurance claim.

Until this week, I operated from the belief that what my lawyer, Mr D, calls an “investment” in legal fees, and neuro-psychological testing, would ultimately result in a positive outcome.

The Wednesday teleconference was to have delivered some form of report and solicit clinical data from Dr D and Dr H that would permit filing the final insurance claim by the July 15th deadline. Instead, what was delivered was an announcement of no valid analysis and no possibility of a report. Such a limited outcome did not require scheduling a five person teleconference. There was no need to wait three months to deliver the news of no news. An email in March would have sufficed. This communication did not need to wait. It was not “pro-patient” to incur a three month delay to deliver the message: “Sorry. You have to go elsewhere.”

Even if events had followed the originally scheduled time line, I was developing worries over my financial position. I do not know where I now stand.

The lawyer has suggested locating another neuro-psychologist. This poses three problems: 1) the required testing is expensive and difficult to obtain; 2) The specialists who engage in this testing are wary of getting involved in legal cases. They do not wish to spend time in court. They seek to engage in clinical work with their patients; 3) The practitioners are all fully booked with the earliest openings being in November of this year. That is another five month wait period. The November date has not been confirmed. And it is not known if the one available neuro-psychologist is willing to provide court testimony.

Were the claim to be filed by the end of November 2014, the insurer would have three months to evaluate it. That takes us to the end of February 2015. The insurance company then has a further three months to obtain a 3rd party evaluation. That takes us to the end of May 2015. In total, this is a full year’s further delay.

If the insurer were to decline the claim then it would move forward to some form of tribunal. I have no idea what the additional legal costs might be. Nor do I know how long it would take to conclude the tribunal. The money to fund all of these costs would be drawn from home equity as my other savings are near exhaustion. I am not a rich man. I had not anticipated blowing through my limited retirement savings while waiting on an insurance claim. I had not anticipated being rear ended on the way to work. I had not anticipated having to spend thousands of dollars on diagnostic tests, or tens of thousands of dollars on legal work, to establish an injury claim.

Stupid me.