Collaboration from 10 Canadian Universities and 2 American Universities

Improve the quality of your IMES as well as your reputation as an expert witness!

Although housed at University of Montreal, this program, developed by Dr. Francois Sestier, from University of Montreal, Dr. Michel Lacerte from University of Western Ontario and Dr. Tim Meagher, from McGill University, is a unique Canadian academic effort, with the collaboration of gifted lecturers, from 10 Canadian Universities, 2 American Universities and many other speakers, from diverse backgrounds (see list of speakers).

Unique program in North America

The goal of the University Curriculum in Insurance Medicine and Medicolegal Expertise is to provide Health Professionals with a comprehensive educational program which will improve their medicolegal knowledge and skills. This collaborative effort of Canadian and American academics is unique in North America.

The program requires 4 hours of work per week, per lecture (there are 14 lectures per 3 credits course and 9 lectures for the 2 credits course). It consists of one 2 hours lecture and 2 hours of preparatory time, followed by an online written examination, a date will be set before the end of the registered trimester. The formal lectures are web-based and are accessible to students via a password. All written material is available on the web site. This e-learning program provides a large degree of flexibility to the health professionals interested in this curriculum.

The program has been made possible by a major unrestricted support from Canadian Insurance Companies: Great-West-Life, Manulife Financial, Sunlife Financial, Desjardins Financial security, Atlantic Blue Cross, Optimum-Re. We would like to thank these first donors for their generous contributions and for their enthusiasm in supporting this venture, without which this program would not have been possible.

Faculty costs of 1273.92 $ will be added to your tuition fees prescribed to regulation. These fees are subject to change without notice.

Successful completion to the 6 exams of the microprogram in "Insurance medicine and medico-legal expertise" at Université de Montréal, totaling 17 credits (255 hours of coursework lectures), entitles you, since 2006 to the CMLE title, or Certified Medico-Legal Expert.

Why attend the Insurance medicine and medicolegal program at University of Montreal?

As an orthopaedic surgeon but mostly as a surgeon specialized in shoulder pathologies, I was asked to give expert opinions early on in my practice. Twenty years ago, with the advances of MRI studies and shoulder arthroscopy, our knowledge of shoulder pathologies bloomed.

I learned much in the medicolegal field by speaking with lawyers and other actors of the legal arena. These contacts improved the quality of my reports. So why did I attend the program in 2001, because it was available and mostly because I felt I should obtain a proper training of that specific field. Our residency program does not include medico-legal notions which is quite normal, since it isn’t the goal of the orthopaedic programs. However, if you decide to do independent medical evaluations, you should seek proper training in order to do these evaluations with the right vocabulary and meaning.

In my case, even with my experience doing independent evaluations, I learned much from the program exchanging with others and the various speakers. It improved my comprehension of the field, hence the quality of my reports. Even if you’re an experienced surgeon, you will be surprised how much you can learn from this program. Remember that you are not in your usual comfortable setting like the operating room. You are a player in a legal arena that you may not be familiar with. Clinical experience and scientific knowledge however important may not suffice in preparing your reports or when you testify in court.

That is why I recommend the program in Insurance medicine and medicolegal at University of Montreal, which I’ve completed and followed by a DESS in 2005. I encourage you to sign up to improve your knowledge of that specific field and thus improve the quality of your independent medical evaluations.

Dr. Eric Renaud, M.D. MSc. FRCSC

Do not miss the next registration for the only University web-based curriculum in medico-legal expertise. If you want to join the IME world, or if you already started writing IME reports , do not wait a minute to follow a thorough series of medico-legal lectures; you will then discover all what you ignore, but should know to be a good expert; do not declare yourself an expert, but learn how to be a reliable expert in high demand; do not imitate some of your colleagues, self declared experts, now facing civil lawsuits or suspended for months by their Provincial College for negligence or defamation: they lost all credibility and all chance to pursue their medico-legal career….

Claude Mercier, MD, FRCSC (c)

Director, Program of Insurance Medicine & Medicolegal Expertise/University of Montreal, Faculty of Medicine

Since April 20, 2018, Dr. Claude Mercier is the new director of the program in Insurance Medicine and medico-legal expertise".

Dr. François Sestier had been heading this program since January 2000, and retired from this position, remaining a consultant for the program.

The previous director of the "IME program" speaking of the competitive advantages of the Medico-Legal & Insurance Medicine Program at Université de Montréal

Update March 2015

Insurance medicine and Medico Legal Expertise Program at University of Montreal

• An overview of the online course
• Quicktime download

Microprogram = 17 credits

From the menu click on « Canadian Medico-Legal Experts and Insurance Medical Officers »

Insurance Medicine and Medicolegal courses

Where do I record my post-grad Fellowship?

Fellowships can be entered as Section 2: Planned Learning: Fellowship. Usually, a Fellowship is deemed equivalent to 4 courses per year, so you can claim a Fellowship in 25 credit segments, up to a maximum of 100 credits per year. Note: If a portion of the Fellowship occurred prior to your MOC cycle start date, you can earn credits for the portion completed after the start date of your MOC cycle and this would be recorded in 25 credit segments.

Therefore it is important to claim credits for each course individually: 3 hours for MMD6220-A1, 3 hours for MMD6220-A2, and so on…

For the DESS, MMD6228 (13 university credits or 195 hours) CURRENTLY SUSPENDED, unfortunately you cannot validate more than 25 hours for this course. We recommend that you rather claim 2 Royal College credits/hour of "personal learning project under the supervision of a mentor". Click on the "Royal College" link below.

• Royal College-Maintenance of Certification Program
• MOC Tools and Resources
• Activities you can report in Section 2

The program has been made possible by a major unrestricted support from Canadian Insurance Companies. We would like to thank these donors for their generous contributions and for their enthusiasm in supporting this venture, without which this program would not have been possible:

Great-West-Life, Manulife Financial, Sunlife Financial, Desjardins Financial security, Atlantic Blue Cross, Optimum-Re

Faculty costs of 1 273.92 $ per course will be added to your tuition fees prescribed to regulation. These fees are subject to change without notice.

Please contact our program coordinator, Eva Medalsy at: 1-877-343-7606 for information on the cost of this program.

For a virtual tour and to know more about Université de Montréal

• U of M today

Any correspondence you are to receive should be in English...

However, seeing that « University of Montreal » is a Francophone University, there might be some french correspondence that slips through by mistake. If it were the case, fax it to us at 514-343-7074 and we will translate it for you.

• Traité d'Expertise, P. Forcier and M.Lacerte
• Writing medico-legal reports in civil claims, G. Eyre and L. Alexander
• Handbook of Work Disability-P Loisel
• Work Disability-P Loisel - Editor_Springer 2013

• UofM Code of conduct for the medical expert

Click on the below subjects for the description