I Started My Treatment at A Clinic. I Was Advised to Go to A Clinic by My Supervisor. I Go to This Clinic. I Do Not Get the Medical Care I Need. What Can I Do?

You have the right to change doctors one time from the list of doctors listed on the panel of physicians. Do not change to another clinic. Look for a good doctor on the panel of doctors.

Call me and I can guide you the best I can to get treatment from another doctor who is on the panel of doctors. However, they are still insurance doctors on all these panel of doctors. This is very frustrating but this is the workers' compensation system in Georgia.

Do I have the right to change to a doctor of my own choosing?

You can do so only one time in your entire case. There is an exception to the law that says the insurance company is in control of your medical care. There is an examination you can get with a new doctor called Independent Medical Examination (IME), and you can get it for free since the insurance company must pay for it. However, if you have not drawn weekly workers' compensation benefits (weekly checks) you are not entitled to this IME.

The purpose of this IME is for you to have another doctor look at your medical condition and that doctor hopefully would be free of any influence from the insurance company. However, this does not mean that you can be treated by this new doctor. If the doctor who performed the IME is recommending a new treatment that you ever had, then it is my job to petition the court to get a change of doctors.

Changing medical treatment in the workers' compensation system is very difficult to do since the insurance company is in control of your medical care and the law recognizes this. But it can be done.