Alabama Workers Compensation Questions: (10) What if I don’t like the company doctor I am being sent to for treatment?

Alabama Workers Compensation Questions: (10) What if I don’t like the company doctor I am being sent to for treatment? 

Under Alabama’s Workers’ Compensation law, a person injured at work is free to see whomever he or she wants for treatment of their job injury, but generally the workers’ compensation insurance carrier is not obligated to pay of any treatment unless the injured worker seeks medical treatment from a physician chosen by the workers compensation carrier, and most personal health insurance plans will not pay for treatment for a job injury, meaning that for all practical purposes, if you have been hurt at work, you will have to go to the doctor the workers compensation insurance carrier sends you to for treatment.

Having stated this, Alabama’s Workers’ Compensation Statute realizes that there may be times in which the injured worker is not satisfied with the treatment they are receiving from workers’ compensation’s physician. This is why our workers compensation law allows the injured worker to request a new treating physician. This is done by requesting a Panel of Four Physicians. The workers’ compensation insurance carrier picks 4 different physicians from 4 different facilities, and the injured worker can then choose one of the doctors to take over treatment for the work related injury. You may only request a Panel of Four once during the normal pendency of your workers comp claim (you may also request a surgical Panel of Four is surgery has been recommended).

Since the injured worker only has one shot at picking a new treating physician, requesting a Panel of Four is not something to be done on the spur of the moment. Moreover, most injured workers do not have any knowledge about the physicians on their Panel of Four and they are hesitant to make an uninformed choice. An experienced Workers Comp lawyer is, at times like this, invaluable in helping you choose the best physician for you given your injury and where in Alabama you live.

The Alabama Workers Comp lawyers at Powell and Denny have over 40 years combined experience handling work place injuries and in dealing with the physicians used by the various workers’ compensation insurance companies. If you are dissatisfied with your treating physician and have questions about what your next step should be, the experienced Alabama Workers Compensation attorneys at Powell and Denny would be happy to help.

Powell and Denny: We Work When You Can’t

Offices in Huntsville, AL and Hoover, AL

Powell and Denny have been selected as one of the Best Law Firms by U.S. News and World Report for each of the last 5 years, have been selected as one of Birmingham’s Top Lawyers by B-Metro Magazine for the last 3 years, have been selected by The National Advocates as one of the Top 20 Workers’ Compensation Firms (plaintiffs) and Powell and Denny, P.C.-has been selected as one of the “Best of the Best” law firms by The American Registry.

 

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