Question: I visited a Virginia personal injury attorney near Tyson’s Corner for a free consultation recently about my car accident case. I had not seen a doctor as the accident only happened recently.

This lawyer had a huge wall of business cards of doctors, physical therapists and chiropractors on his conference room table. He told me he could set me up on referral and I wouldn’t need to pay anything up front to visit one of these health care professionals, the money would come out of my settlement later.

What do you think about this idea?

Response:

Beware of any lawyer who has a stable of chiropractors, doctors or therapists to refer you to. This is a recipe for disaster.

Local Fairfax judges call this “service” the kiss of death to a claim. (One long-time attorney was disbarred because he referred clients to a chiropractor and then told his clients to lie about the referral when asked in deposition.) He got caught big time.

The problem with a lawyer to doctor referral is that jurors are highly suspicious of lawyers and doctors who have a referral relationship. While the client may not know how many of that lawyer’s clients have been referred in the last 12 months to a particular doctor, you can bet that the insurance company knows it or will find out about it. How credible do you think that doctor’s testimony will be when the jury finds out that he treated 50 patients from the same lawyer last year?

Are there exceptions to this rule? Yes, there are.

You may have a very special need for a doctor with a special expertise. It is perfectly legitimate for the attorney to make that suggestion/recommendation. If every client, though, is getting referred to the same chiropractor or the same orthopedist, then that is a huge problem. (So beware of the attorney who has a stack of doctor/chiropractor cards in his office. You need to ask the right questions and fully understand the business relationship, if any, between that attorney and the doctor.)