The answer is it really depends on which state your attorney is licensed in. In Louisiana, we absolutely can and do routinely pay for medical treatment for our clients.
One main thing that we convey to our clients when they hire us is they can stop worrying about a lot of issues that have been bothering them, such as paying their bills, talking to the company about the accident, finding the right doctor, etc. If they’re worried about getting the proper medical treatment, we take care of that and we can pay medical expenses as needed. We can advance money on cases, if that’s necessary, for our clients to live month to month.
There are at least three reasons why we do this and why we think it is so important that we are able to step up and help pay for and facilitate treatment for our maritime clients.
Most company doctors and companies are going to be very reluctant to pay for expensive testing that figures out the nature and extent of your injury. These are things like MRIs or CT scans or nerve testing. Most companies are going to drag their feet on those things. They usually will ask for a second opinion. You may go months and months before you have an MRI that tells you how badly injured your neck or your back is after your injury. We step up, we get the payment done, we get that MRI for you and we figure out what’s going on with your injury quickly. Most companies are not going to be willing to do that.
Most companies will delay as much as they can. If they do pay for it, it’s usually months and months down the road. Well, the trouble with that is it’s dragging out this whole process for you. You want to figure out as quickly as you can how badly are you hurt, how is this going to impact your future and what can you do about it at that point. Most companies are not going to be on that same timeline. They, on the other hand, want to usually drag things out so the timeliness of getting your treatment is very important. With us being allowed to pay for your medical treatment and facilitate it, we speed that timeline up. The third reason is kind of related to the second one I just talked about but it’s more of an overall view and an overall viewpoint of this whole process. The company usually does not want to speed things up and figure out quickly by paying for medical treatment, figuring out how badly injured you are, figuring out if you need a surgery, getting the surgery done, figuring out where you are after that surgery. The company usually does not want that timeline to be sped up. They want to drag things out because the slower they go the harder it is to step up and say this is what’s happened to me. I have this injury, this is the money I’m going to lose every year, this is what I need for my medicals and this is what I need done medically. You can never put that package together. You certainly can’t do it quickly if the company is dragging their feet and not paying for medical treatment for you. So a huge view of our office is get in there, figure out the impact this has had on your life, put together the scenario that says this is where our client was before, this is where our client is now and let’s deal with it. Those are the three main reasons that we see it very beneficial to pay for medical treatment for our clients. We’re Louisiana attorneys. Call us if you have any questions. We can help you with your maritime injury.
We want them to leave our office knowing that their case is in good hands and their future is in good hands.
If you are seeking an experienced maritime law and Jones Act lawyer for your accident or injury case, then look no further. Contact The Young Firm at 504-680-4100.
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