I have a simple rule when deciding whether to take a case:
If someone’s really hurt, they’ll go to the doctor.
If they’re not, they won’t.
Instead, they’ll probably ask me something like, “what do you think I should do?” or “I wanted to run it past you first.”
And I’ll say, “no thanks.”
I famously do not get involved in my clients’ medical treatment—for better or worse—unless I absolutely have to.
If my clients have no other way to pay for treatment (no health insurance, their provider won’t take it, or they can’t afford it) or have no idea where to go for it (they’re new to town, don’t have a primary care doctor, or don’t know where to find one), I may help them make financial arrangements or find a trusted medical provider.
But, when I do, I always give them the dead-straight instruction: “Never take medical advice from me. Do everything your doctor says—nothing more, nothing less.”
Medical decision making is between two people: you and your doctor. No one should get in between those decisions—especially your lawyer.
If a lawyer tries to tell you what your injuries are, what medical procedures to get, or where to go to get them, they’re most likely doing it to help them—not you.
I’m disgusted when I hear about unwitting clients getting unnecessary medical treatment and even serious surgeries just because their lawyer recommended a certain “course of treatment.”
Some lawyers are so blatant they send almost all their clients to the same doctors, who diagnose the same injuries, and do the same procedures.
The only people benefitting from that arrangement are the lawyer and the doctor.
We don’t do it and neither should you.