Art. 1464.Order For an Additional Medical Opinion For Physical Or Mental Examination of Persons

When a party's physical or mental condition is itself at issue in a case -- a personal injury claim, a custody dispute involving a parent's fitness -- Article 1464 lets the court order that party, or a person in the party's custody or legal control, to submit to an examination. It's not limited to physicians: the court can also order an examination by a vocational rehabilitation expert or a licensed clinical psychologist, as long as the party seeking it has given notice that it intends to use such an expert.

This isn't an automatic order. It takes a motion, good cause, and notice to both the person to be examined and every party in the case. The resulting order has to spell out the specifics -- time, place, manner, conditions, scope, and who will perform the exam -- rather than granting a blank check.

Two protections stand out. First, no matter how many defendants are in the case, a plaintiff can't be forced through multiple examinations by multiple physicians in the same specialty for the same injury, absent good cause -- a safeguard against being worn down by duplicate exams because several defendants each want their own doctor to look. Second, a minor examined under this article has the right to have a parent, tutor, or legal guardian present. If that isn't possible, the court must instead order the exam videotaped at the examined party's expense, with the court weighing the minor's best interests and able to restrict how the recording is made or whether the minor ever sees it.