In a workers’ compensation case, the injured worker is required to treat with the physician that the insurance company chooses for them if the injured worker wants the insurance company to pay for their treatment. This can often be very frustrating for the injured worker, if they are dissatisfied with their doctor’s care. In my years of practice, I have found that some physicians tend to be prejudiced in favor of the insurance companies when treating workers’ compensation patients. Frequently, these physicians will provide opinions which favor the insurance company’s goal of keeping the cost of your treatment as low as possible and will try to find little or nothing wrong with you, despite your complaints. It is more common to find these doctors at the initial stage of the case when you are treating at a walk-in clinic. I generally find specialists, such as surgeons or pain management doctors, to be fairer, although some of them can be biased as well.
Fortunately, there is hope. Under the current workers’ compensation law, you are entitled to a one-time change of physician. At your request, the insurance company must provide you with a new doctor if you are dissatisfied with your current one. The new physician must be in the same specialty as your current doctor, and the insurance company still gets to pick who the physician will be. This is a departure from the earlier law, under which the injured worker was allowed to pick a new physician from a list provided by the insurance company. You can only exercise your right to a new doctor once, however, so I encourage my clients to use the one-time change with caution. If you have any questions about the one-time change, such as if it would be a good time to use it, please give me a call.
