Who isn't the right doctor for your case?
If you read my blog, you will see that we talk a lot about being honest as the number thing you should do in a claim. That applies for the lawyers too.
There are a handful of law firms in town that have referral agreements with doctors. Basically the doctors tell the patients who to hire and the lawyers tell the client who to treat with. It doesn't matter the doctor who the best lawyer might be for their patient and it doesn't matter to the lawyer who the best doctor might be for the client.
There is technically nothing illegal about this, but my personal opinion is that it is really unethical, especially on part of the lawyers. Imagine if you find yourself on a witness stand and the insurance company attorney asks you what made you see the doctor you chose. If the answer is that your lawyer told you to, it could hurt your case. The same holds true if the doctor is giving a deposition in your case and testifies under oath that he and the attorney refer clients to each other all of the time. It just doesn't pass the smell test.
What inspired me to write this story was a recent call I had. Seems that a law firm settled a case for a client, but screwed up by not getting all of the medical bills paid. The client was left with around $15,000 after lawyer fees, but before she got the check, the attorney told her that the doctor was owed almost $10,000 and was placing a lien on the settlement.
The lawyer went on to scream at the client that "how dare you not pay this great doctor" and "I can't believe you are trying to screw him."
If you hadn't guessed, the client ended up at the doctor because according to her, the attorney said she had no choice. At that point in time the attorney was only worried about protecting a relationship with a referral source, not about what was best for the client or the right thing to do. And by the way, there are no liens in Illinois workers' compensation so that was a lie by the lawyer too.
It was the attorney's job to make sure all of the bills were paid in this case. They failed and then tried to cover their backside with lies and threats. It's shameful.
And like I said in the beginning, if people would just be honest from the get-go, everything would work out great.
On a side note, I get approached by doctors, physical therapists and chiropractors about once a week with requests to join forces in some manner. I reject these requests every time. I don't think there is anything wrong with a lawyer suggesting a doctor, but when they try to direct your care it's a big problem that can only be solved if they grow a conscience.
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