Saturday, March 29, 2014

Canadian Insurance News Submission to the Ontario Auto Insurance Three-Year Review

http://www.fsco.gov.on.ca/en/auto/Pages/ontario-auto-insurance-3-yr-review.aspx

 
Canadian Insurance News

http://cinsurancenews.blogspot.ca/

Contact: canadianinsurancenews at gmail.com

Submission Ontario Auto Insurance Three-Year Review



Attention:
Jennifer MacMillan, Senior Policy Consultant, Auto Insurance Policy Unit, FSCO at 3YearReview@fsco.gov.on.ca.




This Open Letter is intended to provide some incite from a victims perspective, and to educate decision makers.
















Submission to the Ontario Auto Insurance Three-Year Review.
By Canadian Insurance News
March 29, 2014






Brief Personal History:


I have a unique perspective to offer in regards to the insurance industry as I have been in the insurance system since a fatal crash that was not my fault back in 2007.
I am a white male, born in Canada with roots going back to 1670. Before the fatal crash in 2007 I was a 3rd generation truck driver. My jobs included hauling almost every produce, and commodity imaginable. I was a professional driver at the top of my profession with a perfect driving record. We proudly display a Canadian flag on our back, and front lawn. My family and I are law abiding members of the community with no criminal records.


Brief History of Crash:

I was coming home from work travelling on a narrow country road I used often. When I was about 60 feet from the crest of a blind hill, suddenly there were two cars travelling towards me, side by side, one car was in my lane. There was no where for me to go !...
The teenage boy was speeding and passing on a blind hill and solid double line. He hit me with his car at over 102km/hr; taking off the front wheel, sending me rolling 8 times, and into a tree. I was trapped upside-down. The airbag went off in the side of my head at a force 2/3's more powerful than that of today s cars. I had used the steering wheel to block my face from the crash. As a consequence my head was placed sideways in the steering wheel at the time of impact, and at the time of air bag detonation. Unfortunately the teenage boy died in the crash as he hit another car and a cement barrier. Remarkably his passenger survived.
Pictures of the 3 car fatal crash are available online at: http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/
















Recommendations


You already know of the insurance industry practices, so I shall not reproduce them here in detail and tell you what you already know. I shall not lecture you on the way injured victims are treated following a crash. You can search online for that.


The dark side of the insurance industry world must be quite annoyed by what I would call “heroes for injured victims”. For example, you are probably aware of articles by Alan Shanoff ( http://www.torontosun.com/author/alan-shanoff ) . He has written numerous articles that will give you information on how injured victims are treated by insurers.


Further reading will eventually get you to the Fair Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform site at: http://www.fairassociation.ca/ . There you will find yourself in information overload as to the victims movement for Insurance reform. I am a member myself.
If you are an insider in the insurance world and continue to search you will find yourself at
including my Surviving a Collision Blog, and Canadian Insurance News.


On my Surviving a Collision Blog you will find yourself in my CPP Disability benefit application nightmare. I applied for the Disability benefit back in 2008 a year after the fatal crash of 2007. I continue to fight for Disability benefits to date. I think you can imagine what my letters to Service Canada have been like while they continue to deny my family a benefit that I am clearly entitled to. Some of the letters are posted on the Surviving a Collision Blog at http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/ for your viewing.


If you require more information on the insurance world you can go to the Canadian Insurance News twitter stream at: https://twitter.com/Cinsurancenews . It was created for the purpose of communicating, and providing information.
I have recently read a sad story about another victim of insurance. His story is similar to mine but one of the differences is that I wont try to hang myself. His story serves as a template for insurance practices that a common, and gives you a glimpse into insurance victims lives. You can read the article at : Life can change in the blink of an eye
or at Canadian Insurance News at:






I used to wonder why something as simple as insurance has gotten so very, very, out of control. Out of control insurers, out of control profits, out of control wordhirlings, out of control pay-for-hire doctors. I have witnessed what they will do to protect their industry full of deceit, it disgusts me.


When I was a trucker I delivered almost everything. I met a lot of people. Most of the people that I met were honest and hard working. Most of the people that I have met in the insurance world are dishonest and uncaring.


I am old enough to remember when there was help for the injured. Doctors even came to your house to treat you back in the 60s. Now the insurance company hires people to abuse an innocent crash victim for profit, and the system is setup to treat a injured crash survivor like they are dishonest, just like the insurance world is.


If it were not for the crash I could go back to my world of Professional Driving, and working with honest and hardworking people. But I am stuck with advocating for insurance reform and my ongoing Social Security Tribunal appeal that they can delay for another year.


Thanks to denials by the insurance system I now have enough contacts and information to share with the world, so that maybe, someone, will fix the insurance system, so that it does not destroy anymore lives, and does what its suppose to do, and what we pay for. Then I can not spend every waking hour thinking about the injustice we live in. Waiting for the money to run out from what little we received from the forced settlement during the FSCO backlog. When justice disappeared because of insurance greed, and look-the-other-way politicians and Doctors.


Our insurer that we paid for decades cut off replacement benefits just prior to mediation. Sound familiar? It should. Its common for the insurer to bleed you dry so you must sign on the dotted line. Huh, justice, where did it go, and how did a product that makes billions of dollars be allowed not to pay the contract of insurance obligations, conveniently, to serve their version of justice.


If you are serious about fixing the insurance system you can start by reducing the fraud that insurers do by sending a message to them. Start by penalizing them for their crimes. If I had my way they would be in jail for what they are doing to innocent injured victims.










Thank you for this opportunity to communicate with you and express my views.
It is unfortunate that you don’t hear from enough crash-insurance-victims. An obvious assumption would be because they can’t. Or they just give up. I understand why, I’m exhausted from trying to receive what should have been automatic, and from being prosecuted for no crime for the last 7 years of my life.
Looking forward to hearing from you or anyone in this regard. Thank you.


Sincerely,
Administrator,
Canadian Insurance News






























Contact: canadianinsurancenews at gmail.com












Thursday, March 27, 2014

Reconsideration of the decision to deny Canada Pension Plan Disability

December 20, 2013

VIA FACSIMILE 1-613-941-1827

Canadian Pension Plan Disability
Service Canada
PO BOX 2020 STN MAIN
CHATHAM ON N7M 6B2

Re: CPP Disability application
Client Identification Number xxx
Social Insurance Number xxx

Dear Service Canada:

We have not had any correspondence from you in regards to my reconsideration of August 13, 2013 that you acknowledged in your letter of September 27, 2013.

You have been ignoring my letters to Service Canada as well.

My request for an appeal in my letter of January 21, 2013 was ignored.

There was no Acknowledgement letter of the appeal for my application of May 21, 2008.

If you continue to deny and delay your office will be subject to further public scrutiny’s that are being duplicated and broadcasted to online sources.  
Please act according to the regulations and take my case more seriously. 
I will take a louder voice if you continue to deny my application for a benefit I am clearly entitled to. What is it going to take to be fairly treated? Will I have to Cc everyone in the house of commons and get on the news!

The most important inquiry to you was four months ago when I asked you to please explain how you can write we realize that you cannot work now.” and at the same time deny my application.

I kindly ask that you respond to my inquiries relating to my application so I can get on with my recovery and have the funds to pay for my medication at $435.05/ month.

Be advised we do not answer the phone because of persistent calls from collection agencies. You will need to leave a message and I will return your call.
Page 1 of 2

Please acknowledge in writing:
  1. Answer my inquiry letters sent to you in 2013
  2. The status of the appeal of my application of May 21, 2008
  3. The latest reconsideration status
Looking forward to hearing from you as soon as possible in this regard.
Thank you.

Sincerely,
xxxx

Cc: Surviving a Collision Blog
Cc: Bearsworld Insurance News
Cc: Nothins ever easy
Cc: Fair Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform
Cc: Insurance Policy Unit, Ministry of Finance
Cc: Letter to the editor – Toronto Sun
Cc: Toronto Sun – Allan Shanoff
Cc: Pension Plan Branch FSCO
1-416-226-7777

Source:  http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/2013/12/p-margin-bottom-0.html

Open letter to Social Security Tribunal by disabled claimant

Open letter:
via Surviving a Collision - survingingacollision.blogspot.ca

via Faximile 1-855-814-4117
via Email info.sst-ss@canada.gc.ca


March 19, 2014


Social Security Tribunal
PO Box 9812 C.P. 9812 / Station T CSC Station T, SPC
Ottawa ON K1G6S3


Re: Notice of Appeal
HRSDC File Number: W-CHAxxxxxxx
Tribunal Number: GP-xx-xxx


Dear Social Security Tribunal:

Further to your Acknowledgement of the “Notice of Appeal” dated February 28, 2014, the following is my response.

The Social Security Tribunal and Service Canada both now have not responded to my letters.

To make matters even worse you can also inflict an unreasonable delay of up to “365 days from the date the appeal was filed to sign a Notice of Readiness and send it to the Tribunal”.

Are you kidding me?

Seriously......... is this a joke,

............... 365 days?

What exactly is a neadyness of what?

When you are ready you will send a form to the Tribunal. Why will you send it to yourself?
Why would it take that long?
You say in your letter I will be getting and will be signing more forms , why doesn't that surprise me. When, how long will this take?
Really....... this is a joke right?

Can someone Google these things for me ?

Knowone has called me from your office to explain anything, or answer my letters.
This process is designed to inflict more bullshit to a crash survivors life.
Maybe its designed so the survivor will die from this crap and you wont have to pay.

Six years fighting for the right to receive benefits that I paid for all my adult life was not enough!

Having the security I paid for diminished to a game of doctors pay for hire antics was not enough!

The years being ignored by Service Canada has not been enough!

Now its obvious that I am suppose to take what little I have to get a lawyer to get what should have been automatic after the fatal crash that was not my fault.
Unfortunately what little I have, I need to survive on for the rest of my life, the lawyers can't have it,and the doctors have made enough money from my misfortune.


Maybe the settlement from the crash should have been enough....oh ya.....that didn't happen because of the backlog to justice caused by the insurance industry and look-the-other-way government officials that should be making the insurance industry uphold agreements.

So now its only reasonable that I consult the public for help.

Has anyone seen this shit before?

How can we fix this process so other crash survivors are not put threw it.
They write “we realize that you cannot work now” at the same time deny my application for a benefit I am clearly entitled to.

And now you can delay this fiasco for up to a year

This is a joke right?

Sincerely,
Admin,
Surviving a Collision
survingingacollision.blogspot.ca
source:  http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/2014/03/open-letter-to-social-security-tribunal.html

What happens after the FSCO backlog and your screwed by your insurance, doctors and lawyer?

Here is my fax to Service Canada today. I sent them the link to this page.

November 5, 2013

VIA FACSIMILE 1-613-941-1827
Service Canada
P.O BOX 2020 STN MAIN
CHATHAM, ON, N7M6B2

RE: Canada Pension Plan Disability
        CID# xxx xxx xxx
        xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


Dear Service Canada:


In 2007, I was  in a crash that took the life of a 19 year old boy
that was speeding,
 and passing on a solid double line,
 on a blind hill,
crashing into me head-on with his car.

The crash sent me rolling 8 times
 and hitting a tree.
With the air bag going off in the side of my head
I was trapped upside down in the twisted wreck
 that was not my fault.

You have had the evidence that you needed in 2008.

You are making it difficult to contact you because your fax number no
longer answers mine.
The fax log will show that yours times out now.

I called the Service Canada office that I was sending the fax to
several times, for days.
It just rings, and rings for days.

No-one answers the phone or fax now.

I called Service Canada several times by way of the number that
Service Canada gave me, and numbers I found online. According to
Service Canada they will not accept my fax. They will not give out a
fax number to me, and suggested that I go to the Service Canada
office.

How would a disabled person, shafted by the FSCO backlog, with no
income, be able to travel an hour and a half round trip? To find out
that their office may, or may not be open?

You have accepted my faxes at prior times.

I just want to verify receipt of a doctor’s report.
Why is this so hard to do?

Previously my application was lost in the mail you say. And have
denied my claim for disability benefits for bogus reasons.

Your previous acknowledgement of receipt for a fax in one of your
denial letters (“we know you can't work now”) established your receipt
of my faxes, and also by your own admission in a phone message that
you left on my answering machine.

Why are you not accepting my disability application, and properly, and
fairly, investigating my claim?

Are you on strike?

Shouldn't you notify people?

Your latest tactic of not accepting a doctor’s report from me, so I
may further produce evidence,
 will not be tolerated.

To hide and not communicate with me is babyish. So I will treat you like a baby.

 Please accept this fax until someone at your office can establish to
me how I may send you
1 doctors report.

Sending.......................

............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................1
of 48000.













Fax sent November 5, 2013


Sending 2 of 48000...........................................................................................................................................................................................……………………………………..
 
Source:  http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/2013/11/what-happens-after-fsco-backlog-and.html

FSCO backlog- Class Action Lawsuit

Open letter to FSCO:


Honourable J. Douglas Cunningham, former Associate Chief Justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Senior Manager, Insurance Policy Unit
Industrial and Financial Policy Branch
Ministry of Finance
95 Grosvenor Street, 4th Floor
Toronto, Ontario M7A 1Z1


Dear FSCO:

According to the Ontario Automobile Insurance Dispute Resolution System Review Interim report,  beginning in 2007 FSCO began to experience a dramatic increase in Applications for Mediation.
 In 2006 07, FSCO received 13,053 new applications and in 201112, received 35,727 applications a 174 per cent increase.
As a result, FSCO was not able to meet the legislated 60- day time line for mediation and a backlog of files awaiting assignment to a mediator developed.
At the end of December 2011, there was a backlog of approximately 30,700 files,
FSCO was receiving an average of 2,949 new Applications for Mediation every month and claimants were waiting in excess of 11 months for mediation.

The FSCO backlog created forced settlements.
Victims of insurance had no choice but to sign forced settlements because Insurance Companies cut benefits off just before settlement.
When victims were told that mediation could take up to or more than a year to get heard. We had no choice. With no income, no justice, disabled, what can you do, we got screwed.

By purposely creating this backlog, these forced settlements were illegal, immoral, and insurance companies profited greatly by them.

I suggest that all the victims of these forced settlements be compensated.
Why not a class action lawsuit in this regard?

No names have been posted on this blog in accordance to the forced settlement agreement. That’s why you don’t hear from the victims of insurance.

Sincerely,
Administrator,




Cc:  






Tell Queen’s Park there’s plenty wrong with car insurance

Disclaimer: The names have been removed in the following letter to comply with legal demands.



May 27, 2012

Via Facsimile 613-996-1626

Via Letter Mail
Clerk of the Committee,
Room 1405, Whitney Block,
Queen’s Park, Toronto, Ontario M7A 1A2.

Re: Public Hearings on Car Insurance Industry Practices


Dear Clerk of the Committee:

I thank you for this opportunity to express my views on car insurance industry practices. I regret not being able to come there in person as the trip would be too painful, and can not afford the gas because my Insurer has unjustly stopped paying accident benefits.

Having been a victim of a fatal crash in 2007, I can tell you first hand my dealings with the current Insurance System.

Brief Personal History

I am a xx year old white male, born in Canada with roots going back to 1670. Before the fatal crash I was a 3rd generation truck driver. My jobs included hauling almost every produce and commodity imaginable. I am a professional driver with a perfect driving record. We proudly display a Canadian flag on our back and front lawn. We have two children. Both my wife and I are law abiding members of the community with no criminal records.

Brief History of Crash

I was coming home from work travelling on a narrow country road I used often. When I was about 60 feet from the crest of a blind hill, suddenly there were two cars travelling towards me, side by side, one car was in my lane. There was no where for me to go !...
The teenage boy was speeding and passing on a blind hill and solid double line. He hit me with his car at 102km/hr; taking off the front wheel, sending me rolling 8 times, and into a tree.
I was trapped upside-down. The airbag went off in the side of my head at a force 2/3's more powerful than that of today s cars. I had used the steering wheel to block my face from the crash. As a consequence my head was placed sideways in the steering wheel at the time of impact, and at the time of air bag detonation. Unfortunately the teenage boy died in the crash as he hit another car and a cement barrier.

Page 1 of 6



Findings and Recommendations – Public Hearings on Car Insurance Industry Practices

Our adjuster Mr. xx of xx Insurance has rejected claims of treating physicians, without obtaining a medical opinion. My Adjusters have denied, delayed my legitimate accident benefits off and on over the last 5 years. They began paying accident benefits after a 5 month delay.
Then suddenly before Mediation they cut off my accident benefits in an effort to make me settle in favour of the insurer.

Mediation has taken 5 years in my case. Our adjuster Mr. xx of xx Insurance tactics of sending me excessive distances to insurer interrogations has created a delay. He also mandated an insurer’s examination with a doctor with an obvious conflict of interest  that he new existed, creating further delay. He also mandated on two separate occasions interrogations and the doors were locked creating again an even further delay.

Insurance Companies owe policy holders  fiduciary duties, including the duty to act in good faith.
Our insurer has created an adversarial relationship, which has created great mental distress.
My Insurer has never given the benefit of the doubt when medical reports conflicted in the face of clear medical evidence.

According to a survey by the Alliance of Community Medical & Rehabilitation Providers 42% of all requests for treatment are now being rejected by insurers. The purpose of motor vehicle liability policies is to protect people from financial and emotional stress and insecurity. The main rationale for no fault car insurance accident benefits is that we want people injured in car accidents, regardless of who is at fault, to have quick access to medical and rehabilitation benefits not covered by OHIP. The practice of insurance companies denying requests for treatment has corrupted that philosophy and creates a slow torture to its victims.

The Ontario Auditor Generals report said about 50% of all claims result in mediation requests. With an estimated 36,000 applications for mediation being launched in the current fiscal year, the backlog isn’t likely to decrease. What is a crash victim facing a denial of benefits supposed to do? Forcing injured people to wait a year for non-binding mediation before they can seek a remedy through the courts encourages insurers to deny claims. Mediation is supposed to be fast and inexpensive.

When you buy insurance, you depend on that, thinking insurance is going to help you out if you ever have life-altering injuries. But in reality you have to fight for everything, every step of the way.” They want their money but when roles are reversed, they’ll do anything not to pay.”

In examining the increasing cost of claims, shouldn’t we be examining the increase in costs attributable to defence or insurer medicals, adjuster’s fees and legal fees paid to insurers defence lawyers?
An examination of the insurance industry needs to take place to uncover excessive payments to medical professionals treating accident victims, and how those payments are being declared by the industry.
I have found examples of fraud in the Ontario automobile insurance industry.

Page 2 of 6



We can’t leave the job of making medical determinations to adjusters or even their financially conflicted experts to writing accurate insurer medical reports, with the doctors writing only a small portion.  I have read how the facts have been twisted by assessment mills. Our insurers retained preferred, wordhirelings have been allowed to write whatever they want in there reports, even if it’s not true.

The Insurance system has allowed my personal information to be accessed at the HCAI anonymously.  Wordhirlings working my case have shared all our personal information loosely threw many unsecured channels. I will be requesting an investigation further into this matter; there is obviously a bug in the software and very lenient rules for sending information. No one should be logged-in anonymously accessing my personal information from the Secure Dox web site. Obviously more testing should have gone on before the site was opened for business only a short time ago. They also send emails threw unsecured channels and put personal information in the subject lines that are not encrypted. I feel that the public would react negatively much like I do, when you find out that your medical files are at risk.

Who is going to stop them? They should be held accountable. They should read their own code of ethics. The state of the insurance industry isn’t an election issue. It should be. I feel the Insurance Industry as it stands today is contributing to the general meltdown of society. Insurance Companies hold too much power over the Medical Community. They make misleading allegations, manipulate, and provide false representation of a matter of fact. They report about Scores, and devise graphs with numbers, create paper trails, and make endless non-scientific claims that have little or no evidence to substantiate them. They include and rely on colleagues reports as to be true, and include their Reports, in theirs, over and over again, creating a repetitious paper trail and inducing others in reliance upon them.

To allow a Doctor to run loose to write bias reports to satisfy the agenda of the Insurance Company is criminal and for their own gain only exploits a crash victim further. It’s time for car insurance companies to open their books. Let’s not take our eye off what matters, insurance is supposed to be there for deserving policyholders. While your committee doesn’t have the power to implement changes, it can make recommendations to exam abusive practices by the insurance industry, and we kindly ask that you do so and bring this urgent problem to the attention of the Legislature.

I face a $30,000 deductible and must also satisfy a stringent threshold to recover any award.
We need to examine insurance industry practices to ensure policyholders are getting fair treatment.
The evidence is clear there is a breach of the duty, good faith and fair dealing. Crash victims should not get further victimized by there own Insurance company. We paid insurance premiums for 30 years!
No accidents, no claims, professional driver, and perfect driving records.


Page 3 of 6



Currently I am xx years old, disabled, no job, and no insurance replacement benefits.
I have constant neck pain 100% of the time and constant pain tuning my head that accompanies clicking, cracking, grinding, in my neck 100% of the time. It hurts just to brush my teeth.
I have a sharp pain that originates in the back of my head/neck and radiates into my upper back that feels like pinched nerve spasms. Another sharp electrical type shock radiates into my left shoulder into my left arm and hand. I have a constant high pitch ringing in my left ear from when the air bag went off in the side of my head. My headaches sometimes last for days. I have back pain, and a nerve in my back that is causing a nerve in my toe making it painful to walk. I grind my teeth all night thinking about the insurance and finances which in turn has given me jaw pain and further sleep disruption. I have been bed ridden on many occasions. I’m sure I will be in a ripe mood by the time I get a meeting with a FSCO arbitrator in about a year.

Thank you for this opportunity to submit my findings. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you should have any questions, comments, or wish to view evidence of my claims.  Looking forward to hearing from an advocate as soon as possible in this regard. Thank you, drive careful, and remember, you only think you have insurance if someone hits you.


Sincerely,
Mr. xx
xx xx Rd xx,
xx Ontario, xx








Cc: Mr. xx Law Office
Cc: Mr. xx Law Office
Cc: CEO – xx Insurance
Cc: Dr. xx – Family Physician


Next mailing:
Cc: xx, MPP – Queenspark
Cc: xx, MPP -Queenspark
Cc: xx, Mediator – xx Mediations
Cc: xx, Clinical Manager – xx Management Inc.
Cc: xx - xx Management Inc.

Page 4 of 6


Next mailing:

Cc: Mr. xx, Lawyer, Journalist – xx
Cc: Letter to the editor - xx Newspaper
Cc: Letter to the editor - xx Newspaper
Cc: Letter to the editor - xx Newspaper
Cc: Letter to the editor - xx Newspaper
Cc: Letter to the editor - xx Newspaper
Cc: Letter to the editor - xx Newspaper
Cc: xx - xx Psychologists
Cc: xx – xx Psychologists
Cc: Dr. xx – xx Psychologists
Cc: Ms. xx – xx
Cc: xx – xx Rehabilitation
Cc: xx – xx Rehabilitation
Cc: Mr. xx - xx Physiotherapy Clinic
Cc: Mr. xx - xx Physiotherapy Clinic
Cc: Chief Privacy Officer - HCAI Processing
Cc: xx, Broker - xx Insurance Brokers
Cc: Mr. xx – Morrison Insurance Brokers
Cc: xx, Privacy Commissioner – Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada
Cc: Dr. xx, Associate Professor, McMaster University
Cc: Mr. xx - xx Consulting
Cc: xx, Investigator – The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario
Cc: Financial Services Commission of Ontario
Cc: xx, Lawyer for the Defence (Insurer) -  xx
Cc: Dr. xx
Cc: Dr. xx
Cc: xx, Vocational Evaluator – xx Inc.
Cc: xx – xx & Associates
Cc: Dr. xx
Cc: Mrs. xx – xx Insurance
Cc: Dr. xx
Cc: xx, Claims Examiner – xx
Cc: xx, Case Manager – The xx Company
Cc: xx, Head xx Insurance Operations – The xx Company
Cc: Mr. xx, Occupational Therapist- xx
Cc: xx, Occupational Therapist- xx
Cc: xx - xx Clinic
Cc: Dr. xx
Cc: xx, Occupational Therapist
Cc: Dr. xx, Orthopaedic Surgeon
 

Page 5 of 6


Next mailing

Cc: xx – xx Minister of Canada
Cc: Members of Parliament
Cc: General Media sources
Cc: Online Media sources
Cc: Online Forums and Blogs
Cc: Online Social Networks



Source: http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/2012/08/tell-queens-park-theres-plenty-wrong.html

Surviving a Collision

Crash July 17, 2007 @ 7pm @ 7th road
07/17/2007 7pm @ 7th street
I was coming home from work in my boss’s car. 
The truck I have been driving was in for service so he let me use his car to get home.
I was doing the speed limit traveling on a narrow country road I used often. 
When I was about 60 feet from the crest of a blind hill, suddenly there were two cars traveling towards me, side by side. One car was in my lane.
There was no where for me to go!...

I pulled the steering wheel as fast as I could to the right, at the same time put my face into my arm and braked. Before I closed my eyes I remember seeing a large tree and thinking “it’s all over now”.
Things seem to go in slow motion after the first and hardest impact from the car that was head-on in my lane.
I felt like I was tumbling, spinning and falling at the same time.
I felt and heard the impact sounds of busting glass and crunching metal.
Eight times I heard, and felt, a loud bang, and was jolted.
When the crunching and banging finally stopped I opened my eyes.

I was hanging Upside down against the seat. The seatbelt was so tight I could hardly breathe. I could feel the blood rushing to my head. I could see the blood dripping off me, and I struggled not to pass out.
I could hear screaming. I heard someone saying “you all right” and, “he’s a live”.
Then I saw smoke, and thought the car was on fire, I thought I was going to burn to death trapped in the seatbelt.
I yelled at a guy by the broken window. I told him “get me the fx&! out of here”. But he wouldn’t help me.

I tried desperately to escape. While hanging upside down I put my arm in the roof full of broken glass. My arm was messed up anyway by the look of the blood on it.
I made several attempts to lift my body into the seat by putting my arm in the glass and pushing. At the same time pushing the seatbelt button as hard I could with the opposite hand.
The guy was telling me come on you can do it, or something like that.
After several attempts the seatbelt finally released and I fell into the broken glass in the roof.

I tried climbing out through the broken window but there was a large picker bush in the way. I yelled at the guy to “step on it”. He did, and I fell out into the long weeds, grass, and debris in the ditch.

Blood was coming out of my head, arm, and ear.
What I seen on the street were car parts scattered everywhere. There were people everywhere. I couldn’t hear from my left ear because the air bag went off in the side of my head.
There was a woman talking to me, she put blankets on me. Another woman was directing traffic. I was confused and hurt. I couldn’t understand how I was still alive. And still don't.


Medical
They strapped me to a stretcher. The ambulance driver noticed my stomach was red, he wanted to cut off my shirt but I told him it was from a bug bite I had from the day before. My whole stomach and right side of my torso was red and hard. I can’t help but wonder if the bite did something to help me survive the crash.
I spent what seemed to be forever in an ambulance on the way to the hospital strapped to a plastic hard board. I was in agony with every bump. Why is there no air ride in an ambulance?

In the hospital a woman came to take a bag of blood from me. She just grabbed my cutup arm without letting me know. I pulled it away from her. Then she stuck the needle in a piece of glass that was still in my right arm. I pulled that arm away from her too. Then she stuck the needle in the top of my hand. She kept taking the needle in and out and poking, grinding the needle around in the top of my hand. I think she was trying to make me pass out.
My body wanted to pass out, but my mind was still on a high from being alive. I was still confused as to why I was not dead.
While I was in the intensive care unit what was left of a woman rolled in on a stretcher. She had tubes comeing out of every orifice and looked almost dead. Shortly after she rolled in they were going to roll her out to the hall. I spoke up and say leave her here and put me out in the hall. Then, another woman took me to an x-ray booth. And they x-ray the aching sh^!t out of me!
Later I ended up in line waiting to use the bathroom. There was only one bathroom in the emergency ward!
When I was finally able to use the bathroom I washed the blood off my arm, and the side of my face, myself.
They finally let me go. I just wanted to get out of there.
I was still on a, I’m still alive high. I was still confused and I felt indestructible. It was a feeling I can’t explain in any words. But I was not fine.

The diagnosis from my Doctor was Severe Whiplash. My symptoms were; headaches, memory loss, trouble Sleeping, neck pain, and back pain, chest pain, head injuries, cuts in ear and arm, trouble sleeping, poor memory and concentration. emotional trauma, fatigue feeling of being very tired all the time, , stiffness in the neck, neck pain, shoulder pain, pain turning head, looking up, sitting or standing too long, reaching over head, nightmares and driver paranoia.

The doctor offered Drugs and suggested Therapy. I couldn’t afford Therapy and as for the Drugs I refused to take pills. On my Second visit again he offered Drugs. He also suggested more x-rays. I told him they did enough x-rays at the hospital. Research has show that ordinary x-rays and even MRIs will not show this type of injury.
When I mentioned to him I was “losing words” he asked me “did you get hit on the head?” I said yes, several times, he said “you must have a Concussion”.
According to my research whiplash is a common diagnosis after a collision.
I finally did try the prescribed pills but they had no effect on my pain so I gave them back to the doctor.


Work
I cancelled my third doctor’s appointment and went back to work. I was off work less than a month when I returned. I was in a lot of pain but I went back anyway. I was worried about feeding my family, and being replaced on my job.
My injuries were causing problems. I was having trouble sustaining my previous level of work and was in a lot of pain. I was let go, laid off. 


Investigation
A local newspaper originally reported that I was at fault. Don’t believe everything you read in the news. The truth was later reported.
Another Newspaper reported “the young man was doing something that all of us do”. (Referring to the guy that hit me.)
This reporter thinks it's alright to speed and pass on a solid double line on a blind hill ! 

Investigation later proved that a Teen-aged boy was driving the vehicle that hit me. He was traveling in excess of 100km per hour speeding well over the speed limit and passing on a blind hill and solid double line. According to sources he liked to race on this Street often and was passing everyone on that road that day. Sources also say he was a Private in the Forces going to Afghanistan.
After he hit me, he then hit the vehicle behind me, and then hit a Cement barrier and hydro pole. He died.
Amazingly his passenger survived, and the guy in the second vehicle he hit survived as well.

According to Media Reports and Residents what is now known as the “notorious Mud hill” there’s always accidents or near misses. The city has allowed a scrap yard to setup shop on the blind hill. The parking lot is too small for customers and they end up stopped on the hill looking for a place to park. One resident's home is right in front of the accident scene said “it’s basically on a daily basis”. The Residence of this Stretch of road have been asking City officials for help. In an email one resident told them “Please don’t let anyone else die!!!
But City officials ignored warnings. They did nothing to remedy the situation of this blind hill. No blind spot sign, prepare to stop sign, reduced speed sign. Not one sign despite documented complaints, accidents and even death.


Insurance
I was told quietly from my Insurance Broker ( I have been with for over 20 years, and no claims ) that if I put a claim in with them, other Insurance Companies might not want to insure me in the future. So I didn’t, at first. After I spoke with a lawyer. He said I must put a claim in with my insurance company, and I did.
The initial application package consisted of five forms totalling twenty pages to be completed by persons claiming benefits, their employer and their health care provider. The insurer’s ability to pick and choose their medical assessor was somewhat circumscribed. An application can be considered incomplete and its processing delayed if an adjuster decides that missing information is needed to determine entitlement to a benefit. There are nineteen current claim forms that could apply to existing claimants. The large number of forms creates a paper burden for claimants, adjusters and other participants in the auto insurance system, and did.
Because the doctor checked off N/A on some questions my Insurance company made an issue of this and it gave them an excuse not to pay some of the Accident benefits required by my policy. It took 6 months for them to start paying some of the benefits I was entitled. Our financial losses were many.

The emotional trauma and stress to my family and I from the Collision have been numerous.
Many, many, activities of daily living, activities I performed prior to the accident have been taken from me. My strength has been taken and replaced with a feeling of pain, stress, and a feeling of uselessness.

I fear degenerate changes which may not immediately interfere with my activities will worsen with age. I fear that damages to me caused by the collision will worsen as I get older, and logically, will multiply exponentially.
Because of the Collision I’ve had to live in constant pain. I am no longer able to do the normal things in my life, fix, clean, clear, pick, ride, teach, run, play, dream, and sleep. Which in turn affects the lives of my family.
I had the ability to do all home repairs. I was a guy that could take a shovel and dig down to the footing of a house by myself. I would workout daily on a heavy bag and double end speed bag at the same time, build and maintain a very large garden daily, and maintain a 1 1/2 acre property with pool. I shingled a roof by myself, dug a 400’ ditch by hand, pile 1000s boxes of glass per hour onto skids, take a motor and transmission out in one day by myself, move tons of stone by hand, work extreme hours, pull 48' drywall tarps, and chain slabs of steel and steel coils.
How do you do, your normal things?
Question from my insurer (disability certificate): "does the applicant suffer a substantial inability to perform the housekeeping an home maintenance services that he/she normally performed before the accident?"
Answer: No, not my normal things.
We paid insurance premiums for over twenty years so we could be protected if anything should happen. 






The rest of this blog explains what happened next...

source:  http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca/2007/07/surviving-collision.html
 http://survivingacollision.blogspot.ca

Action on insurance reform

But under our polarized, adversarial system, accident victims will continue to be maltreated

 

The Ontario government appears to be moving quickly to adopt some of the recommendations of the final report of the Ontario Automobile Insurance Dispute Resolution System (DRS) Review, released last month.
In 2013, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa appointed the Hon. Douglas Cunningham, a former associate chief justice of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, to the task.
His job was to provide “recommendations regarding systemic causes of and solutions to the mediation backlog, potential changes to the current structure, a delivery model and process, the addition of a dispute prevention process for the system and other issues related to the viability of the DRS.”
All of this relates to our dysfunctional, no-fault, auto accident benefit system, which seems to do a better job of creating disputes than providing promised benefits to accident victims.
Cunningham’s final report was released last month and last week Sousa announced new legislation adopting some of Cunningham’s recommendations to streamline the dispute resolution system.
Streamlining the system is a good thing, but there is no proposal or even a suggestion on addressing Cunningham’s observation about “how polarized the system has become” and how the accident benefits claims process had become “so adversarial”.
We can streamline all we like, but until the provincial government addresses the systemic problems created by our polarized, adversarial system, accident victims will continue to be maltreated, albeit for a shorter duration once the new legislation comes into force.
As Cunningham observed, “The insurance industry points to the plaintiff bar as the source of the system’s problems, while the legal community blames the practices of the insurance industry.” In other words, neither side is prepared to take ownership of the problem or admit to any shortcomings of its own.
Meanwhile, it’s those who suffer the misfortune of being injured in motor vehicle accidents who also suffer due to this polarization.
Cunningham also noted independent medical examinations, now called insurer examinations (IEs), “appear to have little credibility with claimants and only serve to trigger disputes”.
At the same time, Cunningham pointed out that stakeholders, “strongly supported the current system in which parties provide their own experts.” In other words, there’s a huge problem with the use of experts but neither side wants to do much to fix it.
While Cunningham wasn’t assigned the job of reviewing insurer examinations, it seems strange to try to fix the accident benefits dispute resolution system without reviewing and offering recommendations on dealing with insurer examinations, which Cunningham concedes, trigger disputes.
Cunningham repeated concerns by consumer advocates that health regulatory colleges “have not been responsive to complaints regarding members who conduct IEs.” He also remarked that it “must be a challenge to insulate themselves from outside influence.”
If that wasn’t clear enough, Cunningham added, “The problem is obvious. An expert retained by an insurer who supports claimants is unlikely to be retained again. For this culture shift to be successful, the government will need to be proactive.” That seems a polite way of saying it’s difficult for experts appointed by insurers not to provide reports that favour the insurers who pay them large sums of money in return.
So it’s no wonder the FAIR Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform takes issue with the Cunningham Report stating, “The recently released Dispute Resolution System Review final report does not address the abuse of Ontario’s accident victims and our courts by assessors who intentionally minimize or deflate an injury so Ontario’s insurers can deny claims. Despite the DRS review being the forum most suited to impose criteria regarding medico-legal expert witnesses, and the place to set standards, the issue will remain a core problem affecting every accident victim.”
The government’s proposed legislation is supposed to reduce costs, fight fraud and protect consumers.
Whether it will actually do any of that remains to be seen, but there’s nothing of substance in it to protect accident victims. 
Source: http://www.fairassociation.ca/

FAIR treatment of MVA victims and Bill 171

Fair Association of Victims for Accident Insurance Reform
579A Lakeshore Rd. E, P.O. Box 39522
Mississauga, ON, L5G 4S6

March 20, 2014
OPEN LETTER

Sent by email to Premier Wynne, Charles Sousa and Deb Matthews
CC to Ontario's MPPs and the Media

On March 17, 2014 Ontario’s legislature had the second reading of Bill 171 - Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates Act, 2014.

FAIR believes that Bill 171 is being rushed through by our government to increase insurer profits.

There are clearly issues that both the NDP and the Progressive Conservatives feel are worthy of further consultations before passing 171 into law. It is only the Liberal party who felt that “this bill, if passed, is a practical step in helping us curb the price of auto insurance.” As if it doesn't matter what we get for the money or that right now, only half of all accident victims are getting the benefits they've paid for isn't a big issue.

Accident victims see Bill 171, not as a fraud fighting measure but as a template for reducing benefits paid to injured drivers by way of legislation geared toward enhancing insurer profits and marginalizing the rights of Ontario's disabled and injured citizens.

What kind of government creates laws that discriminate against injured and disabled citizens by denying them the same access to justice that every other citizen enjoys in a democratic society? Why remove the disincentives for insurers who delay and deny legitimate claims by decreasing prejudgment interest rates and throwing away ‘special awards’ for claimants who have been unfairly abused at the hands of their insurer?  It’s like declaring war on vulnerable MVA victims and it has nothing to do with fighting fraud.

Not a word from the Liberals about the core reason for the rate of insurer denials that created the backlog in our courts systems in the first place. Bill 171 will leave us with a dishonest system based on too often flawed and biased medico-legal opinion reports that are used to deflate and deny legitimate claims – but it will be faster. Not better, not honest, not helpful and certainly not fair or just.

What kind of government commission studies and panels that continue to acknowledge the issue of the quality of the medical examinations that accident victims are subjected to but still doesn't act to protect the best interests of the public? One that is determined to keep the self-regulation for medical practitioners in place despite that it is causing so much harm to its most vulnerable citizens?

The Anti-Fraud Task Force acknowledged the problem with IME/IE reports and expert evidence and chose to do nothing.  And Justice Cunningham spent some time on the subject in the DRS Review Report and again, there are no meaningful recommendations to fix this harmful process that is at the core of many of the cases that are in dispute. The recommended non-payment for a court appearance is hardly more than a slap on the wrist.  Both of these panels have recommended that the system and the accident victims continue to rely on Ontario’s regulatory colleges for oversight in respect to the quality of medical examinations and reports. A system they acknowledge isn’t working and that consumers and patients have issues with. Doing nothing about this harmful problem is an insult to every accident victim that has had to attend these IMEs and to every respectable assessor who does try and do a decent job.

 If there were to be an end to the unqualified or bogus IME/IE, it would be an end to the high volume of cases in dispute and an end to much of the suffering and psychological harm done to victims by these rogue assessors. Does this government have something against the fair treatment of accident victims with the use of quality evidence in court?

It can only be seen as a willful decision to put on the blinders to this harmful practice of abuse by some of Ontario’s insurers and their assessors.  It’s dangerous out there for the cognitively impaired or highly vulnerable accident victim when colleges such as CPSO have a long and dark history of hiding facts and misleading the public to protect their members. Both the Anti- Fraud and the DRS panel had information in front of them, words spoken by other judges and arbitrators on the harm caused by these partisan assessors and about the lack of transparency at Ontario’s colleges.

CPSO sends third party assessors for confidential remedial cautions when they abuse accident victims and when these same vulnerable people appeal these secretive and  dismissive decisions, HPARB anonomizes the practitioners name so that no matter what – accident victims will never know about prior abuse, bias or poor report writing skills or that unauthorized rubber stamped reports are being used.

We see no interest in real regulation when it comes to Ontario’s insurer assessment mills and their shoddy and biased medical reports with accusations of symptom exaggeration. In fact we see the opposite. We see recommendations by the Anti-Fraud Task Force Panel to fine injured claimants $500 if they fail to submit to often sketchy insurer assessments. Assessments that everyone in the industry and at FSCO knows are questionable, assessments without real oversight that everyone, except the general public and vulnerable accident victims, knows about.

 We see the DRS Panel making recommendations to strip injured claimants of the right to take their cases to court. Instead of punishing rogue insurer assessors with fines or fraud charges – we see ‘special awards’ being eliminated and the power of FSCO Arbitrators to refer insurer misconduct to the Market Conduct Branch removed. No more remedies for wrongful claims handling practices and all of these measures hurt MVA victims and reward insurers for abusive conduct and delays.

Please stop trading accident victims’ rights to fair hearings, and the benefits they need for recovery, for insurer dollars. 

Please fix the quality of the medico legal reports that are used to decide whether an accident victim is entitled to rehabilitation and benefits and in the bargain you’ll get a fair court system that isn't clogged with legitimate accident victims who have wrongfully been denied benefits. Please recognize that when the Colleges don’t do their job and aren't transparent to the public so their members not held accountable - and then the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board helps them to mislead the public - it causes serious harm. Please fix that by making sure the Colleges really are acting in the best interests of the public they are charged with protecting. Please don’t make it easier for some unscrupulous insurers to delay claims so they can make more money by paying a lesser interest – it creates an incentive to deny claims.

Please stop capitulating to Ontario’s insurers and discriminating against those whose insurers have failed to stand behind their contracts by taking away their right to have their case heard. Stop letting assessors harm accident victims and start making regulation and enforcement work.

Please stop taking action that has made Ontario’s accident victims third class citizens and in the bargain allowed Ontario’s insurers to walk away from their responsibilities by downloading these costs to the taxpayer.

Sincerely yours,
Rhona DesRoches
FAIR, Board Chair

http://www.fairassociation.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/FAIR-submission-to-2014-Pre-Budget-Consultations-Jan-23-2014.pdf