1 MMI but under another doctors care

My husband was injured last year in a construction zone. He was a construction worker and was hit by a motorcycle, which was rear ended by a car. This accident messed up his back, his shoulders, crushed his knee, and has caused severe migrains. He does have an attorney but I am not happy with this attorney at all. He was receiving workmans comp up until 3 weeks ago, when one doctor placed him at MMI, but he is still under another doctors care. WC is refusing any medical care that my husband needs to return to work, and now they have stopped WC checks. His attorney isnt doing much about any of it. Please tell us what we can do.

     Hi.  I am an Illinois injury attorney, so I am speaking from personal experience here in handling these types of cases.

     Generally speaking, a treating physician that has been referred by the employer's insurance company has an obligation to provide medical treatment, at the employer's expense, until your husband reaches the point known as MMI, or maximum medical improvement, where further treatment will no longer improve your husband's condition.  In other words, until he has reached a point where he is, essentially, as good as he is going to get, from a medical perspective.  If he reaches MMI, and is still not able to return to work full duty, or even with restrictions, he is typically entitled to a settlement, based on the extent of permanent disability that he has.

     The collection of medical records and the course of medical treatment, as you probably know, can take some time.  I would recommend that you give your attorney the benefit of the doubt in this regard.  I am assuming that you have been informed by the attorney, or a member of his staff, that the medical record collection process can take time.  Also, it is always a good idea to let the attorney know that you are in need of some answers or direction regarding the status of your claim.  The attorney, or a member of his/her staff, should provide status updates to you.

     If there is a lack of communication, failure to respond to phone calls, or failure to keep you reasonably updated on the status of the claim, this is a different kind of problem.  It is not uncommon for clients to switch attorneys when there is a substantial communication problem, that cannot be cured by informing the attorney of the issues.

     An agreement with an attorney is similar to an agreement with anyone else you would hire, in regard to the fact that you can willingly end the agreement if there are considerable issues regarding the quality of the service.  One thing to remember is that the attorney does have an option to claim a lien on your case and can then come back once the case resolves and asked to be reimbursed for the servicies already rendered.  The amount the attorney may claim as fees for services rendered can be a lot, or it can be minimal.  The factor to consider is how much time the attorney has put into the case thus far.  I cannot make a determination of how much an attorney could claim on a lien basis without knowing what type of work that attorney has performed on the case since originally being hired, however.

     I am not sure if this addresses your question adequately, but I hope that it steers you in the right direction.  Thank you.

NOTE: This answer is for educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.  The use of this site does not create an attorney-client relationship or privilege between the user and the attorney responding.

Thank you very much for your response. It does not help me much. My husband was under the care of 2 different doctors at the same time for two different injuries. One doctor has placed him at MMI. He is still being treated by the other doctor. The second doctor has not placed him at MMI.

By definition if he is still under the care of a physician, he is not at MMI. The only circumstance I can think of where ongoing treatment is MMI- would be if it is pain managment- or some other form of treatment that is  managing or maintaining his condition. But any treatment that is done in an effort to "make him better" would automatically mean that he is not at MMI.

If TTD checks have stopped, you need to file motion for hardship and get case in front of Judge. Talk to your attorney about that.

I hope this helps.

Good Luck.

Daniel Lefton