There are a handful of Illinois workers’ compensation law firms that get a lot of their clients from unethical medical providers. By that I mean that these are doctors who aren’t interested in the health of their patients, but rather are focused on billing as much as they can. These lawyers refer their clients to these “doctors” and the doctors scratch the back of the lawyers be sending them injured workers.
The injured worker doesn’t do anything wrong. They simply trust their lawyer and why wouldn’t they? But what happens is that the doctor gets such a bad reputation that the insurance company and Judges don’t believe a word that they say.
Recently a defense attorney friend of mine was telling me about a case where an injured worker had been sent to one of these clinics by his lawyer. The injury was a back strain that usually resolves itself with a few weeks of physical therapy. In this case, the doctor billed the injured worker for over $90,000 worth of medical care!!! That is unethical and of course the insurance company wouldn’t pay for it.
They protested the bills and while the worker was in limbo and worried about his credit report, he also couldn’t get his case settled because the insurance company wouldn’t offer a penny until the bill issue was resolved. The medical provider ended up cutting their bill by over $75,000 and the word on the street is that they are being investigated by the State for insurance fraud in this case and others.
We have been offered numerous times (probably over 50) by doctors and chiropractors to establish a referral relationship. We have declined every time because I don’t feel that I or any other lawyer is qualified to tell a client where they have to go to for medical treatment. We’ll offer our opinion of a specific doctor or give three names to choose from, but I’d never tell a client that they must treat with the doctor I am suggesting.
If you run across a lawyer that tells you where to treat or a doctor that is trying to give legal advice, the best thing you can do is politely decline. You are in charge of your life and if you let someone else take charge, it will probably screw up your case and even worse, mess up your health.
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