If you are the victim of a work-related accident or if you contracted an illness as a result of working conditions, your priority is to receive professional medical care. Generally, worker’s compensation policy doesn’t allow you to select your own doctor. Your employer or the workers’ comp insurance provider has to choose your medical provider. In most of the cases, the doctor who takes care of you is the same doctor that the company refers you to in such cases. Often the selected doctor has special training in occupational healthcare.

There are some exceptional situations that allow you to choose your personal doctor.

• If a suggested doctor is not available;
• Your employer refuses to provide you immediate medical care.
• There are also cases where the worker’s comp policy gives you the freedom to nominate your preferred doctor. To make sure if this option is available, check its stipulations.

Even if the employer chooses the doctor, you still have the right to request changes in your treatment or ask for a second opinion. All these modifications are possible according to specific state laws and only with an approval from the insurance provider.

If you refuse the medical services offered by your company’s doctor, you may lose your right to get compensation through workers’ comp. If you don’t agree with your treatment or you feel that your rights have been violated, you should contact a workers’ compensation attorney.