The other side's lawyer is sending me to a doctor: does that mean he accepts fault?

Attorney Answer

No. Being sent to a doctor by the other side's lawyer is not an admission of fault, and it is not a step a defendant takes because he has decided to accept responsibility. It is routine discovery in a New York personal injury case: once you claim you were hurt, the defense is entitled to have a physician of its choosing examine you and report on the injuries you say you have. It concedes nothing about how the accident happened.

It is worth being clear about what that examination is. The physician is retained and paid by the defense, is not treating you, and writes a report for the defense that can be used to argue your injuries are less serious, are not connected to the accident, or come from something that happened before it. That doctor may testify. Nothing about the appointment is a second opinion for your benefit, and nothing said there is protected the way a conversation with your own treating physician is.

That does not make it improper. It is a normal part of a case in which a plaintiff has put their physical condition in issue, and refusing to attend causes real problems for the plaintiff, not for the defendant. The terms — when, where, by whom, what tests, and who may accompany you — are governed by the rules that apply to your case and by any order the court has made. Those are questions for the lawyer handling your action; if you are not represented, that is the more urgent problem, because everything in this paragraph is something an attorney would ordinarily be arranging on your behalf.

One point this page cannot answer for you. Your message does not say whether a motor vehicle was involved. That matters in New York, because the rules governing motor-vehicle injury cases — which injuries can be sued for, and how fault between the parties is treated — changed in 2026 and turn on the date the action was commenced, not the date of the accident. Since your case is already filed, that date is fixed and it is in your own court papers. Because the record here does not say whether those rules apply to your case at all, this page states neither the injury rules nor the fault rules; your attorney has the papers that answer both.

What you can do

1. Ask your attorney who scheduled the examination, under what authority, and what the scope is. If you do not have an attorney, get one before the appointment.

2. Keep treating and keep the records. The strongest answer to a defense report is a consistent treatment history from the physicians who actually cared for you.

3. Bring a list of your treatment, your medications and your current limitations, and answer the examiner's questions accurately — neither exaggerating nor minimising.

4. Write down, the same day, how long the examination lasted, what was actually done, and what you were asked. Those notes matter later when the report describes a thorough examination.

5. Do not discuss settlement, fault or your case strategy with the examining physician or the staff. The appointment is not the place for it.

6. Ask your attorney for a copy of the report when it arrives, and go through it against your own records.

⏱ Time limits apply. For a personal injury action, CPLR 214(5) sets three years from the date of the accident, subject to the exceptions § 214 names, and because your action is already commenced that period has been answered by the filing. The deadlines that govern you now are the ones inside the case — court-ordered discovery dates, the timing of the examination itself, and the steps that follow it — and they are set by the court rather than by the calendar of the accident. If a motor vehicle was involved, the date your action was commenced also decides which set of New York rules applies to it. Have the New York attorney handling your case confirm the commencement date and the current deadlines against the file.