My Attorney Declines to Sue My Workers Comp Doctor

[hurtininmo]

My question involves malpractice by a lawyer in the state of: MO

Here's my conundrum. I've hired an attorney for a wc injury and in the process I have found that other issues may arise in re malpractice of treating wc dr. My attorney states that she cannot sue the dr. because they both live in the same town. (Don't crap on the Dr. that may have to treat you, I guess.) Only I believe that there may be a conflict now. What should I do?

[RedT]

My question involves malpractice by a lawyer in the state of: MO

Here's my conundrum. I've hired an attorney for a wc injury and in the process I have found that other issues may arise in re malpractice of treating wc dr. My attorney states that she cannot sue the dr. because they both live in the same town. (Don't crap on the Dr. that may have to treat you, I guess.) Only I believe that there may be a conflict now. What should I do?

Putting aside the propriety of suing a doctor who lives in your town (???) and as a workers comp attorney, I would recommend that you get a separate attorney who specializes in med mal to look at your med mal claim. This is a specialized area of law and you really wnat an expert in this area evaluating your claim. This will be a completely separate claim from the comp claim and should have no effect on the resolution of your comp claim.

However, if you sustained damages due to medical malpractice for the treatment of your comp injury and your comp carrier is/ends up covering the costs for those injuries they will likely expect to be re-paid those benefits (as a third party subrogor) from the proceeds of your med mal claim.