The chicken or the egg: after a car accident, do you go to the lawyer first or the doctor first? In our community, most people do it the same way. Someone they know recommends a chiropractor, a physical therapy clinic, or an acupuncture office. They start treatment there, and then they hire whichever lawyer the clinic introduces. Very few people realize how big a difference that order makes to their final compensation, so today we want to answer the question clearly.
When an accident happens, most people panic and don't know where to start. Call the police, move the cars somewhere safe to prevent a second collision, photograph licenses and insurance cards. Everyone knows those basics. What actually matters more is the decision that comes right after: lawyer first, or clinic first?
What happens when the clinic comes first
If you walk into a clinic without a lawyer, the therapists and clinic owners will usually steer you, an unrepresented client, toward a lawyer or law firm they are connected with. That is a business decision on their part, and there are two big reasons behind it.
Reason one: bill reductions
Clinics, like any other business, put their own bottom line first. When a clinic refers you to a lawyer, the deciding factor is usually not which lawyer will take better care of you. It is how much of the treatment bill that lawyer will pay the clinic once the case closes. A lawyer who receives his clients from a clinic usually cannot ask that clinic to cut its bills, and even when he does, courtesy allows only a token discount, because he depends on the next referral. The result is simple: the reductions that should have gone into your pocket never happen, and your net compensation shrinks.
Reason two: your MedPay coverage
Many drivers carry medical payments coverage, or MedPay, on their own auto policy, usually $1,000, $5,000, or $10,000. MedPay pays your treatment bills no matter who caused the accident. Handled properly, your lawyer collects that MedPay later and folds it into your total recovery. But some clinics want to bill your MedPay before the case ends, which works against you. In practice, some clinics even decide which lawyer gets the referral based on who will let them collect the MedPay first. And because MedPay can also be billed by pain specialists and other doctors, some clinics avoid sending you to an MD even when you are still hurting, so the money stays with them. Never forget that thin treatment records can mean a noticeably smaller settlement.
The math, in real dollars
Say you went to the clinic first and used the lawyer they introduced. A settlement of $7,000 plus $5,000 in MedPay makes $12,000 total. The attorney fee at 33 percent is $4,000. The treatment bill is $5,000, because the clinic billed the insurer before the case closed. You take home $3,000.
Now say you hired your lawyer first and were then referred out for treatment. Same $7,000 settlement, same $5,000 MedPay, same $12,000 total and $4,000 fee. But the treatment bill drops to $3,000 after your lawyer negotiates the reduction, and you take home $5,000. Do you see the difference between $5,000 and $3,000?
The same logic holds in bigger cases. With a $55,000 settlement and $5,000 in MedPay, $60,000 total and a $20,000 fee, the clinic-first route leaves you $35,000, while the lawyer-first route leaves you $37,000. When the numbers are large, it is easy not to notice the money you quietly lost.
The bottom line
If your car took heavy damage and the coverage limits are high, finding the lawyer or law firm first matters most of all. Your compensation is ultimately built on how systematically your pain is treated, with the clinic and the pain specialists referring to each other under a firm that handles nothing but traffic accidents. No matter how high your limits are or how badly the car was wrecked, chiropractic and physical therapy alone rarely bring a large settlement, typically three to four thousand dollars. With active, well-coordinated care between your clinic and the pain doctors, your injury compensation can grow substantially.
This article is general information, not legal advice about your specific situation.