I am very skeptical about attorneys who have close relationships with doctors. Some of these relationships are very obvious and others are more subtle and harder to pick up on. The most obvious connection is when you see an advertisement for a personal injury lawyer on television and they seem to be saying that the very first thing you should do after being injured in an accident is to call their office. Really? Call a lawyer before you go to the doctor? But they seem to be saying (and they really are saying) that if you call them first, they will “set you up” with medical care.

Here is the problem — the biggest factor in calculating what a personal injury case is “worth” (monetary damages) is the amount of the medical bills. If the relationship between a lawyer and a doctor (M.D. or chiropractor) is too “close,” it may become more important to both of them that you (the client/patient) run up lots of medical bills than whether you make a speedy recovery. I recall a potential client coming into the office for an initial interview with the lawyer after being injured in a car accident. The person asked the lawyer, “How long should I go to the doctor or the chiropractor or physical therapy?” The right answer to this question is “Until you are better.” Your medical care for injuries from an accident should not be a money-making venture for anyone – not for your lawyer, your medical care provider, or for you.

We have discussed before (Contingency Fees – What You Need to Know) how your medical bills get paid in a personal injury case. You may be better off using your own medical insurance than just using the doctor that your lawyer recommends, who will “wait for his money  until the end of the case.”  If you feel like your lawyer is pushing you to use a particular doctor, be suspicious. The problem can be, unfortunately, that both the lawyer and the doctor are getting to you when you are vulnerable (injured, stressed, out of work, etc.). If you have a doctor you like and trust, just say you want to go to your own doctor.

There are all kinds of opportunities out there for lawyers and doctors to establish “arrangements” that are financially beneficial to both. In my opinion, professional ethics (medical and legal) demand that those opportunities be resisted. However, greed can rob anyone of their “moral compass.”

The moral of the story? If your lawyer has a doctor, then maybe you need another lawyer. Don’t check your common sense at the door.