How to Choose A Car Accident Attorney
Are you looking for an auto accident attorney? I recently called an attorney’s office to find out the status of my patient’s/his client’s case. The attorney told me that he settled the case, did not pay my medical bill for his client, thought that the client’s medical insurance or auto insurance paid the bills, never called my office, and, therefore, he had no money left to pay the bill. In fact, he told me that I would have to sue his client/my patient in order to get paid.
How Car Accident Medical Claim Payoffs Work
I called the patient, who told me that his attorney told him that he (the attorney) would pay all the medical bills, so that the client would not have to worry about any problems like this.
So my caveat to patients, is to make sure all your medical bills are paid before you settle your case. Otherwise, as in this case, your attorney may give you the settlement, take his fee, and encourage unpaid doctors to sue you in the future.
All of this could be avoided if the attorney would have simply called all the medical providers to confirm any outstanding bills. In fact, I think he purposefully neglected to call my office so that he could settle for a larger sum for he and his client. Most attorneys DO call and communicate responsibly with doctors, so this attorney is exceptionally irresponsible in this regard.
In this case the provider/me has only a few options;
1) File a complaint with the Georgia Bar Association.
2) Encourage the patient to do the same.
3) Sue the patient- very undesirable, but maybe necessary.
4) Forgive the bill- not practical.
Therefore, if you are a patient, make sure you talk to your doctors’ offices to make sure they get paid, before you settle your case.
Best, Dr. Castanet
