Getting Medical Care – How do you chose and use your own doctor for worker related injury.

Medical Panels
Many employers established a panel of medical providers to send their injured workers to. These are doctors paid by your employers insurance company. They give you this list in so you can choose one of their doctors. But your employer can not tell you which of those doctors to choose. And even after you choose, you can switch to another of the doctors on the list within this 90-day period.

Both you and your employer would like to see you get better and go back to work. But often an employer wants to send a worker back before they have improved enough for a safe return to work.

The first 90 days
During the first 90 days after your injury, you have no choice but to see their doctors. But this does not mean that you cannot also see you own doctor. We urge you to get a real second opinion from your own doctor. If you don’t yet have your own doctor you’ll need to have a reliable doctor similar to doctor leichardt who you can trust to visit whenever you need a prescription or a check up. They should also be heard in matters like these as they will know you as a patient and have all your details, history and files on hand for reference. But please be aware that this is not going to be paid for by worker’s comp. And in all likelihood, it will not be paid for by health insurance. So discuss with your doctor how you can get examined without having to pay a large amount for the examination. You would be surprised how accommodating your family doctor may be in this circumstance.

What about after the first 90 day?
The good news is that you can choose you own doctor after the 90 day time period has expired.

When else can you choose your own doctor?
If your employer fails to provide a panel of medical providers, you may treat with your own doctor. In addition, when an insurance company has denies your Worker’s Compensation, you can select a doctor on your own. Further, if all of the doctors on the list cannot give you an appointment, then you can select your own doctor.

Please consult a lawyer as soon as possible. In some circumstances the employer fails to provide the proper paper work. This failure can impact your ability to choose your own doctor. Sometimes the employers failure will allow for you to see your own doctor.

Is surgery required? This is another situation where you may be entitled to consult your own physician. If medically prudent, get a second opinion before going under the knife.