Seeing the Company Doctor for a Work Injury

Answer:

The question comes up, almost in case after case for people who are injured on the job, whether you have to see the company doctor if you’ve been injured on the job in Arizona.

If you talk to our workers’ compensation attorney, Daniel Garza, what he’ll tell you is, yes, one of the rules in Arizona is that you do need to see your company doctor at least once. Now, if your company is self-insured, it’s more. They have the right to choose the doctor for you forever, for life. We have clients in that situation who still aren’t getting the care they need. That’s tough. That’s an important reason to call and talk to Daniel Garza, our workers’ compensation attorney. Generally, for most people, they only have to see their company doctor once. Here’s something that Daniel Garza will tell you that the company doctor doesn’t let you know and your own company doesn’t let you know generally. That is, if you only see the company doctor once, you can go choose your own doctor after that. Call us, and we’ll give you a referral to great doctors who are private doctors who don’t work generally for insurance companies and don’t work generally for employers. They just work for your benefit. There are not a lot of those doctors out there— private doctors who will work with the workmen’s compensation system. We have great doctors. They have enough patients that they’re willing to see our clients. We’ll refer you to great doctors who will accept the workmen’s comp benefits and they’ll give you care that’s focused on you instead of just what’s going to necessarily benefit the insurance company or the employer. The other rule that your employer doesn’t tell you is if you go see the doctor twice, then you’re at least for the short-term stuck with the company doctor. Now, if the company doctor is doing a good job taking care of you, okay. Often, we get calls from people going, oh my gosh, this doctor said I’m fine. I need to get back to work and I’m in excruciating pain. What can I do? In that situation, you made the right first step. You made a call to us. Talk to our workers’ compensation attorney, Daniel Garza, and we can refer you to those private doctors. When they see you, if they find things that the company doctor missed, they do MRIs, more studies the company doctor didn’t do, then they can file what’s called a change of doctor request. Most of the time, those are approved. Then you can start getting the care that’s really what probably could have benefited you from the beginning, but at least you get it now. That’s another reason. If you feel stuck and locked into seeing the company doctor, they’re not giving the care you need, call us. The call is free; the information is free; the referrals are free. The person who’s going to benefit health-wise and financially is you.