When you are involved in an accident, sometimes you may need to agree to a be treated with a doctor under what is called a LOP or letter of protection. This is an agreement between the patient and the doctor that once their case is settled, the doctor will be paid from the proceeds of the patient’s settlement.
Do not misunderstand, there are times when an LOP is needed. Sometimes clients do not have health insurance. That can drastically reduce the amount of medical providers you will be able to treat with. Signing an LOP with some doctors can get you in the door.
There are huge downsides to signing an LOP. It can potentially harm your personal injury case. Mostly, that is applicable to a case where a lawsuit must be filed. The good news is very few cases actually go to litigation. As a brief explanation, an LOP will become evidence in your case if a lawsuit needs to be filed. A good defense attorney will use any LOP you have against you and the credibility of the doctor.
Lets say for instance, your case goes all the way to trial. Well, the defense attorney is going to get the doctors who you have signed an LOP with and they will try to discredit the doctor. Imaging this interaction between the defense attorney and the doctor and you will see how it will play out to a jury:
Defense attorney: “Is it true, Doctor X, that you and the plaintiff have a LOP agreement and that you will only get paid for your treatment of the plaintiff if this jury awards the plaintiff money?
Doctor: “yes that is correct.”
As you can see, simply having a LOP on file in your case can be an issue, but as stated previously, a vast majority of cases never go to litigation, and the ones that do are even more unlikely to go to trial. Most cases that have to go to litigation will settle before it gets to a jury.
Make sure to discuss with your personal injury attorney these issues before signing an LOP with your doctor and decide if it is in your best interest to do so.
