In the arena of personal injury, there are two names that every attorney and doctor should be well acquainted with. There are plenty who have done notable research about injuries in motor vehicle collisions. There are also attorneys who have followed through with cases and established precedents that benefit future cases. There are few, however, who have done the work that has made the differences as Jim Mathis and Arthur Croft .
Any attorney who has handled a whiplash case will recognize Dr. Croft as the expert on the subject. Croft along with Stephen Foreman wrote the original book on whiplash, “Whiplash Injuries: The Cervical Acceleration Deceleration Syndrome” in 1988. Since then he has written over 300 books, chapters, peer-reviewed articles, and of course the “Croft Guidelines for Diagnosis and Treatment of Whiplash Injuries.”
Doctors who know how to properly diagnose, document and manage a personal injury case will likely cite one of his books or studies and undoubtedly will state how their treatment program fits into the Croft guidelines.
These guidelines not only establish the frequency and length of chiropractic care on a particular case, they also determine the level of severity of a cervical injury. As much as doctors should include this in their notes, a demand letter without this leaves the door open for the insurance adjuster to deny care as being medically unnecessary.
As important as Arthur Croft is to this field and as much as many will know him, Jim Mathis is equally important and sadly less commonly recognized. For anyone doing personal injury work the term Colossus is one with which we are all familiar.
Colossus and its 80 derivative programs is the digital program insurance companies use to value (read that as de-value) a personal injury case. What most people do not know is that Colossus was modeled after TEACH, a program that Mathis created for State Farm. Furthermore, when Colossus was introduced by Allstate it was Jim Mathis who taught their adjusters how to use the program.
The good news. Jim Mathis has left the dark side and now teaches how to use Colossus to your advantage. Most demand letter programs available will include at least parts of what Mathis teaches. The weakness of most of these programs is that they only include parts.
Mathis is one of several nationally recognized speakers who has taught for the American Academy of Motor Vehicle Injuries. He will return to Phoenix May 20-21 to share his knowledge and experience in a weekend seminar.
Arthur Croft , who has been teaching for over 20 years, will be bringing his four-seminar program to Phoenix for the first time this summer. While each of his four modules has tremendous value for anyone doing personal injury work he has advised me that for attorneys, the one to attend is Module 1 June 3-4.
How important are these two classes?
With the American Academy of Motor Vehicle Injuries, we strive to teach doctors how to properly diagnose, document and manage a personal injury case. With this information, doctors do a better job with their patients and provide attorneys with more ammunition to go into the settlement battle with the insurance companies.
Any attorney who does not have the information these two men have to share will at best only get by doing personal injury work. Working with these doctors and with the knowledge that Mathis and Croft provided we can all raise the bar. Dr. Bill Gallagher, DC, CMVI
