D.C. · F.P.S.C. · Q.M.E.
Not the spine expert you'd expect.
The one who holds up in court.
25 years as California State Appointed Qualified Medical Examiner|Nevada Rotating Panel of Rating Physicians|Credentialed Fellow, Primary Spine Care (ACCME joint providership, Jacobs School of Medicine, SUNY Buffalo, and Cleveland University–Kansas City)|AMA Guides 5th & 6th Editions
Qualified under § 720 CCP and NRS 50.275 — expert testimony that survives Sargon and Hallmark v. Eldridge gatekeeping in California and Nevada.
Dickman
Medical-Legal Authority in Industrial & Personal Injury
Demonstrable Bodily Injury Evidence
Treatment & Diagnostics
The imaging tells a story. The question is whether anyone is reading it correctly.
Causation
Mechanism alone does not establish causation. The timeline, the baseline, and the findings must converge.
Apportionment
Pre-existing degeneration is not a defense. It is a variable — and it must be quantified.
Every forensic evaluation integrates treatment history, diagnostic imaging, and clinical findings into a single, defensible chain of medical reasoning — from mechanism of injury through permanent impairment.
Practice Areas
Four Pillars of Medical-Legal Authority
I
Industrial Injury
Comprehensive medical-legal evaluation and expert testimony in workers' compensation and occupational injury matters. Authoritative analysis of causation, apportionment, and permanent disability for industrial claims.
II
Personal Injury Litigation
Rigorous independent medical examination and expert witness services for personal injury litigation. Objective clinical analysis of injury causation, treatment necessity, and prognosis for plaintiff and defense counsel.
III
Subrogation Causation
Forensic medical analysis in subrogation matters requiring precise causation opinions — isolating the injury-producing event, establishing the chain of medical causation, and providing defensible apportionment between responsible parties.
IV
Fleet Early Assessment
Early independent medical assessment for fleet and commercial vehicle injury claims. Rapid, objective evaluation of injury causation and treatment necessity — providing carriers and self-insured fleets with authoritative medical guidance from the outset.
California Workers' Compensation · QME / SIBTF
SB 171 has raised the bar for QME and SIBTF reporting.
When SIBTF issues are present, a report that falls short of the new standard can delay the case — or compromise it. SB 171 asks more of every evaluator, and few reports built under the prior framework are structured to meet it.
The Problem
SB 171 significantly raised the bar for QME and SIBTF reporting. Analysis that was sufficient under the prior standard may now leave a report unsubstantiated, non-ratable, or inconsistent with the AMA Guides — not for lack of diligence, but because the requirements themselves have changed.
The evaluator must now provide evidence of pre-existing functional loss and a work capacity analysis — without a stand-alone vocational expert. It's a substantial addition, and most practices have had little occasion to build this capability before now.
The Solution
Stipulate to an Agreed Medical Evaluator (AME) with proven expertise in both QME reporting and the elevated complexity of SIBTF cases — one who delivers a defensible, SB 171-compliant report from the first evaluation.
An experienced AME helps avoid the delays, supplemental reports, and litigation cycles that can follow when a primary evaluation isn't yet structured to the new standard.
Credentials & Qualifications
D.C., F.P.S.C. — Fellow, Primary Spine Care
Qualified Medical Evaluator (QME), State of California
SIBTF Expert — Subsequent Injuries Benefits Trust Fund
AMA Guides 5th & 6th Edition — Impairment Rating
SB 171 Compliance Checklist
Pre-existing functional loss — documented and separated from industrial injury
Work capacity analysis — integrated into the primary report
AMA Guides compliance — 5th and 6th Edition, applied correctly
SIBTF apportionment — defensible, level-by-level breakdown
Availability
Accepting medical legal evaluation engagements throughout Northern California and Northern Nevada. Southern regions by special engagement. Remote evaluations available throughout California, Nevada, Texas, and New York.
Alternative Dispute Resolution · Industrial
ADR Program Medical-Legal Expert Evaluator
Designated neutral evaluator for California workers' compensation ADR proceedings — causation, apportionment, permanent disability, and treatment necessity opinions under the applicable ADR agreement framework.
Personal Injury Litigation · Plaintiff & Defense
Two reports. Two moments that determine the value of the case.
In personal injury litigation, the medical-legal record is built in two stages — initial case screening and final permanency litigation report. Both require the same standard of forensic rigor. Neither can be corrected after the fact.
Initial Case Screening
Before a case is accepted, the medical record must answer a threshold question: does the mechanism of injury support the claimed pathology? A screening evaluation that misses a pre-existing condition, misreads the imaging, or fails to establish a credible causation chain creates a case built on a foundation that will not hold.
Dr. Dickman provides plaintiff case screening evaluations that assess mechanism, imaging findings, treatment history, and causation — delivering a frank, defensible opinion before the case is filed.
↓Download Case Screening FlyerFinal Permanency Litigation Report
The final medical-legal report is the document that goes to deposition and trial. It must establish causation, apportion pre-existing degeneration, quantify permanent impairment, and withstand cross-examination — all within a single, internally consistent narrative.
Reports prepared under the AMA Guides 5th and 6th Edition, with explicit causation analysis, Daubert-compliant methodology, and a clear chain of reasoning from mechanism of injury through permanent disability.
Qualified to age-date the injury.
Age-dating a spinal injury requires more than clinical opinion — it requires a qualified expert whose methodology survives a Daubert or Sargon challenge. Dr. Dickman meets that standard in both California and Nevada.
Expert witness qualification standard
Expert testimony admissibility
No analytical gap — methodology must be sound
Nevada Daubert-equivalent gatekeeping
Accepting Retentions
In-person examinations available throughout Northern California and Northern Nevada; Southern regions by special engagement. Remote evaluations available throughout California, Nevada, Texas, and New York.
Subrogation Causation · Carrier & Self-Insured Retention
Subrogation recovery depends on a causation opinion that holds.
In motor vehicle and premises liability subrogation, the medical causation analysis is the foundation of recovery. A report that cannot isolate the injury-producing event, establish the chain of causation, or withstand adversarial scrutiny leaves the carrier without the medical authority it needs to pursue or defend the claim.
MVA Subrogation Causation
Motor vehicle subrogation requires a forensic medical opinion that does more than confirm an injury occurred. It must establish that the specific mechanism of the subject collision — the forces, the direction of loading, the delta-V — was capable of producing the claimed pathology, and that no prior condition or intervening event accounts for the findings.
Dr. Dickman provides causation opinions for MVA subrogation matters that are grounded in biomechanical analysis, imaging review, and a documented exclusion of alternative causation — structured to support recovery and withstand challenge.
↓Download MVA Subrogation FlyerApportionment & Prior Condition Analysis
Subrogation matters frequently involve claimants with pre-existing degenerative conditions. The question is not whether degeneration was present — it almost always is — but whether the subject event materially contributed to the claimed injury above and beyond the pre-existing baseline.
Apportionment opinions are prepared under the AMA Guides 5th and 6th Edition, with explicit analysis of the pre-existing condition, the injury-producing event, and the defensible allocation of permanent impairment between them.
Accepting Retentions
In-person examinations available throughout Northern California and Northern Nevada; Southern regions by special engagement. Remote evaluations available throughout California, Nevada, Texas, and New York.
Fleet Early Assessment · Commercial Vehicle & Carrier Retention
Early assessment controls the claim. Late assessment concedes it.
In commercial vehicle and fleet injury claims, the medical-legal record is established in the first weeks — before treatment patterns solidify, before causation narratives harden, and before the opposing expert has framed the case. An early independent assessment gives the carrier or self-insured fleet the authoritative medical foundation it needs from the outset.
Early Independent Medical Assessment
Fleet and commercial vehicle claims move quickly. The mechanism of injury, the initial treatment record, and the claimant's reported complaints in the first days after the event are the most reliable data in the file — and they are available only once. An early assessment captures that record before it is shaped by subsequent treatment, attorney involvement, or competing expert opinion.
Dr. Dickman provides early independent medical assessments for fleet and commercial vehicle matters — evaluating mechanism, imaging, treatment necessity, and causation at the point in the claim when the medical record is still clean and the opinion is most defensible.
↓Download Fleet Assessment FlyerCausation & Permanency Report
When a fleet claim proceeds to litigation, the early assessment record becomes the foundation of the final causation and permanency opinion. A report built on an early, independent evaluation — rather than reconstructed from a late record review — carries a structural advantage at deposition and trial.
Final reports prepared under the AMA Guides 5th and 6th Edition, with explicit causation analysis, apportionment of any pre-existing condition, and a defensible permanency opinion structured to withstand cross-examination.
Accepting Retentions
In-person examinations available throughout Northern California and Northern Nevada; Southern regions by special engagement. Remote evaluations available throughout California, Nevada, Texas, and New York.
Credentials
D.C., F.P.S.C.
Fellow, Primary Spine Care
Qualified Medical Evaluator
Expert Witness — Civil Court
Medical-Legal Profile
Twenty-five years of forensic spine evaluation — applied through a consistent structure of analysis that holds up under cross-examination.
Core Forensic Approach
Areas of Forensic Specialization
Mechanism of Injury
Establishing the precise biomechanical event — the forces applied, the direction of loading, the velocity and delta-V where applicable — and determining whether that mechanism is physically capable of producing the claimed pathology at the claimed spinal or musculoskeletal level.
Degenerative Baseline
Establishing where the affected structure stood in the degenerative process before the injury.
Pain Source Mapping
Identifying every contributing pain generator — not just the most obvious diagnosis.
Instability-to-Permanency
Tracing dynamic instability to structural pathology and a defensible permanency opinion.
Injury Dating
Testing whether the timeline actually supports the underlying causation story.
Functional Loss Assessment
Quantifying disability attributable to the injury — grounded, measurable, defensible.
Services
Comprehensive Medical-Legal Services
From initial evaluation through trial testimony — a full spectrum of forensic medical services for workers' compensation, personal injury, and civil litigation matters.
Subrogation Causation Analysis
Fleet Early Assessment
Qualified Medical Evaluations (QME)
Permanent Partial Impairment / Disability Ratings (PPD)
Independent Medical Evaluations / Examinations (IME)
Expert Witness Testimony
Medical Record Review & Analysis
Causation & Apportionment Opinions
Litigation Consulting
Ready to retain Dr. Dickman?
Accepting new panel appointments and direct retentions throughout California and Nevada, Texas, and New York.