Attorney Jim Desmond

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Category: Tractor Trailer Accidents

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Medical Freedom for Victims: Your Right to Choose Your Doctor

To be clear, no-fault insurance, or med-pay coverage, does not require you to go a specific doctor or get pre-authorization.  Rather, the Kentucky Motor Vehicle Reparations Act says that if the treatment is reasonable and related to the injuries sustained in the car wreck, the PIP carrier, a.k.a. the no-fault insurance company, owes coverage for that medical bill.  You can treat with whichever doctor you want.

Treat with whichever doctor you want when it comes to PIP or no-fault insurance coverage

Don’t Let People Play Games with You

When it comes to personal injury protection coverage (“PIP), there are not any pre-authorizations or medical providers in or out of a network.  Rather, a no-fault carrier has you sign a PIP application which is essentially, a fancy medical authorization. This authorization allows them to obtain your medical records and bills, to review them and to determine if they are related to the injuries sustained in the car wreck.  Why is this important? Because you can go wherever you want, to whichever doctor or chiropractor you choose, to treat for your injuries.

I just spoke to a new client. In short, one of the big firms told him that he was going to be referred to a chiropractor, even after he said he was not comfortable with a chiropractor. Look, I have nothing against chiropractors but who he decides to obtain medical treatment from is the client’s choice, not the choice of any personal injury lawyer.

It’s All About You

My job as a personal injury lawyer is to advise my client of what I believe the best decision would be.  It’s not to make that decision for him/her.  I give out the name of chiropractors and/or medical doctors during the course of handling the client’s injury claim. However, I do so because either those doctors are easy to work or because they will work with me on reducing their charges, if necessary, to maximize a client’s recovery.  Nevertheless, I make it clear to all my clients, and I have said this in front of doctors:

“You are my client, not this medical provider! While I appreciate that this medical provider may have given you my name, my legal duties run to you. If you are not happy with their facility or if the treatment is not helping you, let me know. We will find you another doctor, or chiropractor, and I will still be your lawyer.”

I consider some of the doctors or chiropractors that I have worked with to be good friends and I have even traveled with them.  Nevertheless, my client has the absolute right to choose where he or she wants to receive medical treatment.   My job, as a good personal injury lawyer, is to make sure those charges will be paid and/or reduced out of any personal injury settlement that might be reached.

Click here to listed to my podcast episode about PIP (“no-fault”) insurance coverage.

Louisville auto accident attorney Jim Desmond explains PIP or "no-fault" insurance coverage in Kentukcy

Need More Information?

If you have questions about your automobile accident, call my cell at (502) 609-7657.  As an attorney, I handle motor vehicle accident claims in Kentucky and Indiana.  You deserve to speak directly with an attorney; not a paralegal or case manager.  My principal office is located in Louisville, Kentucky.

 

This is an adverstisement.

Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) Pain

Reflex Sympathetic DystrophyReflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD), also referred to as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), is a condition that can be characterized by a variety of symptoms including pain, frequently a burning type of pain, tenderness, swelling of the area or extremity, sweating, flushing, warmth and/or coolness of the area, discoloration, and in some cases shiny skin.

How RSD develops is not well understood and some would say is unknown, however, it is believed to be caused by an irritation of nerve tissue or abnormal excitation of nerve tissue, which causes abnormal impulses along the nerves which in turn affects blood vessels and skin in the area.  This seems to involve the involuntary nervous system, the peripheral nerves, and the brain. The peripheral nervous system is a network of 43 pairs of motor and sensory nerves that connect the brain and spinal cord to the entire human body.

Causes of RSD can be from a wide range of triggers including injury, surgery, shingles, heart disease, degenerative arthritis, stroke or other diseases of the brain, nerve entrapment or irritation such as in carpal tunnel syndrome, joint problems, cancer, specifically breast cancer, and certain drugs such as those used to treat tuberculosis and barbiturates, which act on the central nervous system.

Trauma From Car Wreck Injuries Could Trigger RSD Symptoms

RSD can come on suddenly or slowly over time.  There are four stages of RSD/CRPS including the acute phase (stage 1), the dystrophic phase (stage 2), the atrophic phase (stage 3), and stage 4, which most patient’s never advance to and where there is involvement of the inner organs.  The acute phase can last 3-6 months and often involves burning, flushing, blanching, sweating, swelling, pain, and tenderness.  Patchy thinning of bone can be seen on x-ray in this stage.  The dystrophic phase can also last 3-6 months and is marked by early skin changes including shiny, thickened skin and contractures (a shortening or hardening of muscles, tendons or other tissue).  This stage is marked by persistent pain with a lesser degree of swelling and flushing.  The atrophic phase can be longstanding and involves loss of motion and function of the involved area with contracture and thinning of the fatty layers under the skin.  Often during this stage significant osteoporosis can be seen on x-ray.

Since there are few clinical tests that can detect RSD/CRPS, it is usually diagnosed based on the symptoms described above.  Treatment for RSD can range from cool moist applications to the area to relieve the burning or stinging sensation.  Exercise can help prevent contracture.

Medications may be helpful in reducing pain and swelling.  For more persistent symptoms, cortisone (Prednisone) starting with high doses and gradually tapering may be prescribed.  Medications such as amitriptyline (Elavil), which is used for nerve pain and depression, pregabalin (Lyrica) which is used to treat nerve and muscle pain, and clonidine (Catapres) which is a medication most often prescribed to treat high blood pressure, however, has shown benefits in treating CRPS involving chronic arm or leg pain developed after an injury, surgery, stroke or heart attack.

More advanced forms of treatment would include nerve blocks, implantable pain pumps, spinal cord stimulators, and even surgery to interrupted the nerves known as surgical sympathectomy.