We Feel Your 411 Pain – Lawyer Referral Services
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The Florida Supreme Court is not pleased with lawyer referral services. The fact of the matter is, for-profit referral services are affiliated with law firms that often refer clients to medical providers associated with the same referral service. This practice is dangerous and can threaten the well-being of the client’s health. The attorney and doctor will work together to ensure that the client stays within the range of the referral service for as long as possible. The anxiety that fuels this cycle is held by the referral service attorney, who believes that if he or she does not “recommend” their clients to the referral service doctors, the referral service will sever the flow of clients to the law firm. This presents a potential conflict of interest between the financial interests of the participating lawyers and the best interests of the clients who are entitled to receive reasonable and appropriate medical care from the physician of their choosing.
To illustrate the connection between the two fields, the owner of 411-PAIN is coincidentally a chiropractor that owns several medical clinics. The Florida Bar notes, “the recent and dramatic growth of for-profit lawyer referral services, along with a corresponding increase in public concern as to both the misleading nature of the activities of these services and the potential harm they may cause.” The Court has described the potential for danger that a non-lawyer, for-profit referral services agency may present to the public and this has culminated in taking action in protecting clients that are vulnerable after suffering an injury.
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The Florida Supreme Court has set out to place more restrictions on attorneys that use referral services. To deal with this issue, the Court has also ordered The Florida Bar propose amendments to rule 4-7.22 that preclude Florida lawyers accepting referral service clients if the referral agency is not owned or operated by a member of the Bar. The Supreme Court of Florida has declared: “It is absolutely necessary to protect the public from referral services that improperly utilize lawyers to direct clients to undesired, unnecessary, or even harmful treatment or services.” The Court’s goal is to eliminate the incentive for Florida attorneys to refer clients to medical doctors and clinics that could potentially pose a threat to the public.
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Commentary by Attorney Greg Perenich
Our firm seeks to protect the public and not expose our clients to physicians or medical clinics that would not put the client/patient’s interests above conflicting economic incentives of the provider. PERENICH The Law Firm does not believe that for-profit client referral agencies adequately protect the public’s interests and can create a conflict of interest between the lawyer, the client and the medical provider. This is especially the case if the client is not provided full disclosure about the business relationship of all the parties at the outset of the representation. For this reason our firm has never subscribed to any for-profit client referral agency and is adamantly opposed to these services. On the whole they do not serve the good of the public and too often are focused on their own financial well-being that is conflict with the best interests of the client.
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