WCDefenseCA

Hello, dear readers!  Welcome back from your Thanksgiving holiday.  Your humble blogger hopes you had an opportunity to enjoy a pleasant dinner with your family, as your leftist ACLU aunt told you about the fact that Thanksgiving proves the country was always intended as a socialist state, and your significant other’s Tea Party uncle explained that Thanksgiving is actually a demonstration of how capitalism and free market economics saved the failing colonies.

As your humble blogger emerged from his own food coma, he was informed by his disapproving mother that some Thanksgiving meals inject the consumer with 4,500 calories (that’s two days, six hours worth of food, by the way).  My salute to those of you who made it to a local Turkey Trot marathon.

Speaking of taking more for one’s plate than one should, have you had a chance to check any of your Northern California files to see if Chris Chen, M.D., is the QME (or AME)?  Well, it looks like Dr. Chen has run into trouble with the discipline unit, this time for overbilling.

As my readers can see, Dr. Chen was previously placed on QME probation through February 13, 2013, but this time is actually suspended for six months starting on October 15, 214.  If you had any questions you wanted to ask him, or perhaps wanted to take his deposition, you may need to find a new QME.

Dr. Chen was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $6,700.52.

A search of the QME database reflects that Dr. Chen’s QME specialty is pain medicine, and your humble blogger is going to guess that makes him more popular among applicant attorneys rather than the defense bar.  Accordingly, defense attorneys and adjusters should take this opportunity to review the bills submitted by Dr. Chen, if he is on your file.

Also, if you were planning to get a deposition going with Dr. Chen, you may actually need to get a replacement panel, given the fact that a QME must make him or herself available for a deposition within 120 days of the party’s request (see section 35.5(f)), and Dr. Chen will be suspended until April 15, 2014.

Your humble blogger’s overindulgence at the Thanksgiving table resulted in an evening of discomfort and a weekend of shame.  Other actions of overindulgence sometimes have consequences which linger a bit longer.

Gear up, dear readers, the week after Thanksgiving is always a hard one.  But fear not, your humble blogger will be here by your side.