There are a lot of doctors and workers comp attorneys in Illinois that are desperate for business. They are so desperate (or unethical) that they strike deals with each other. “You send me your clients, I’ll send you my patients” and vice versa.
We get approached all of the time from physicians who want to “help” my clients and in return tell me that I can “help” their patients who have been injured on the job. I always tell them that they are welcome to recommend their patients to me if they believe that I will do the best job for them, but I will never direct my clients to them or anyone else as it’s not the right thing to do and can blow up a case. That doesn’t mean we won’t recommend a physician if we are asked or offer an opinion on a doctor, but I will never, ever tell some injured worker that they must treat with a doctor that I know.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of docs and law firms that only care about their pocket book. That doesn’t mean that they are bad at their jobs, but does indicate that they won’t put you first over the relationship with their referral source. Often these “professionals” tell their clients that they have to work with the person they are recommending. It’s simply not a choice.
I saw this recently when a woman came to me with a severe neck injury. She had some attorney who I never had heard of. I looked him up and his office was very far from the courthouse (bad sign) and boasted of the millions that he had recovered for his clients (although he didn’t list any actual case results to back that up). Anyway, she got to him because her doctor recommended him. She wants to sue that doctor for a bad malpractice screw up and her work comp attorney told her that he wouldn’t allow it and that if she did that he would drop her as a client.
I can’t think of a better example of the slippery slope these lawyer/doctor relationships create than this one. The injured worker is reaching out to her attorney for help and she is basically told to buzz off. He doesn’t care about her, he cares about the next 20 clients this doc can send.
Her problem is solvable by switching lawyers, but it’s really not a problem that she ever should have had at all. There is certainly no way to guarantee that your attorney will look out for you, but when your doctor is telling you that you have to work with a certain lawyer, it’s a sign that they care about each other way more than they will ever care about you.
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