One of my pet peeves is the legal loop that accompanies accident cases. When you have an accident and you ask your lawyer for a referral for a physical therapist, should you follow his or her advice?
First of all, if you are hurt as a result of a car accident, you should see a physician as soon as possible to rule out any serious trauma, fractures or even torn muscles. He or she can refer you to a physical therapist or you can ask a friend to refer you to someone they trust for treatment.
What happens when you call a personal injury lawyer for a referral? Unfortunately, most lawyers will refer you to the professionals that will help you win a legal case. That is not the same thing, unfortunately as a professional that will give you the best treatment. If you mistakingly end up in that legal loop, you may make money in the end but in many cases you lose. Even if you lose the case, the medical professionals win, because they get paid for what they have billed. Often, I have seen the PIP or personal injury protection used up and patients without appropriate treatment go for months or more with problems that could have been successfully treated immediately. Many times I have seen patients who have no insurance come in to our clinic only to find out that their PIP was exhausted by these so called professionals that padded bills with minimal treatment masked as physical therapy and no where to turn.
Years ago my daughter was in a car accident with her stepsister. They had unfortunately hit a cab, having missed a stop sign and thankfully were only going about 15 miles per hour. We arrived to see the cab driver who was a healthy looking man moving well and twisting his neck from side to side looking for someone. That someone turned out to be his lawyer who arrived moments later and called an ambulance. This cab driver climbed into the ambulance by himself and went on to claim thousands of dollars in injuries from this little fender bender. As a physical therapist, I knew what was coming. Years ago, these practices were more common, but they still exist today. Most physical therapists know where these practices are.
So in my opinion, few person injury lawyers are good referral sources for physical therapists, because their contacts are usually the ones that know how to pad a bill in order to win a case. If you need a referral for a good physical therapist, ask a friend who has been to one, or ask a physical therapist who they would see for a particular problem. Valuable time can be wasted going to the wrong person if you have a legitimate problem.
