Lawyers are regular people, just like you. We like to have fun. We have favorite sports teams. We have hobbies and families. We also deal with the annoyances of life like everyone else, including getting spam emails and calls from telemarketers.

The phone call I get the most as it pertains to my business goes something like this. Actually it goes exactly like this:

Hi Michael. I am calling from Dr.’s office. We work with attorneys just like you to take care of injured workers. The reason I am calling is we would like to invite you to lunch at a fish house so the doctor can give a presentation on our services and we can discuss providing treatment for your clients. We would also like to discuss using your services for our patients that do not have legal representation but require it. Please RSVP at …

That is from a voicemail I received recently. I get that type of phone call at least once a week.

If you can not see what is happening, doctors want to buy attorneys an expensive lunch. In exchange for that, they want us to send our clients to them, and, in some cases, also offer to send their patients to us.

Now there are certainly times when an injured worker comes to us and needs to be pointed to a good orthopedic doctor, pain specialist, or other medical provider. There is nothing wrong with that. When we or anyone we know are asked, we typically give a couple of names for them to reach out to to try and get an appointment.

What we would never ever do is insist that our clients seek treatment with a specific doctor. And rest assured this is what many of these doctors are doing with a select group of law firms. These are people who care about their pocket books way more than they would ever care about your health.

I know getting clients is not easy, especially if you are starting a new business. It takes a lot of work. Some of these doctors and lawyers might actually be good at what they do. But if they are insisting that you work with a certain firm/practice, that is them looking out for them and not for you. To me that is a huge red flag and an indicator that there will be other times they won’t look out for you.

I know that a lot of law firms engage in these relationships because we get a lot of calls from injured workers when things have gone bad. Some of these doctors and physical therapists are trying so hard to build up a new practice that they will do two things:

  1. Over treat their patients so they can bill a lot.
  2. Stop treating their patients once work comp insurance denies the case.

In one case we got contacted on, we reviewed the medical records of an injured worker whose benefits got cut off after a year of “treatment.” Almost every exam note looked the same. It would rate her pain on a scale of 1-10 and make treatment recommendations for physical therapy that they provided in house.

The week before work comp denied the case, the doctor wrote that the patient’s pain was an 8 and they need six more weeks of therapy. Once the worker’s case was denied, the doctor wrote a note that they did not need any more care and could go back to work even though they had only done one additional week of therapy. This case was too much of a mess to get involved with.

That example seems extreme, but we see stuff like this all of the time. If you are hurt at work, you need an honest, independent physician in your corner. This is especially true if it’s a bigger injury that will drag on for a while. Some advice is:

  1. Don’t treat with the company doctor. They will look out for the company.
  2. Do seek out an orthopedic doctor or someone specialized in treating your type of injury. A family practice doctor or chiropractor is not the right choice for treatment beyond 1-2 visits. If you have a good family doctor, they likely can refer you to a specialist.

This is the recipe for success in any Illinois workers’ compensation claim. That and getting medical care right away and having a strong lawyer who will fight for what is best for you.