Who would you put into collections, The lawyer of the injured patient, or the patient?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Its a GIRL due nov 3rd
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Its a GIRL due nov 3rd

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I work at a healthcare center and part of my job is to collect on unpaid accounts. we have a collection agency BUT in rare cases we get patients who are injured in a car accident and we have to see them at no charge while they are going to court for the accident. Well there is a patient that we have been working with back in 2005. The bill is over $5000. We stopped seeing them in 2007 (yes two years of work, a lot of chiropractic work) as they no longer needed service BUT their claim is still open...in 2008 the lawyer that was dealing with the claim was put on suspension. She is now active to practice BUT we have not heard a word from them in over a year. I finally did some searching and found her new number and practice location and am trying to make communication.

We've also tried to communicate with the patient but letters get returned and phone numbers are old.

What is the legal standpoint as far as collecting our money?
I was thinking that legally we can put the patient into collections and try to collect that way since it is his claim.

I dont know, any advice would help. Thanks
Gregory: Yes that's what I thought, however what if come to find out the case did get closed and the lawyer did get paid? The agreement with lawyers in these kinds of cases is one the case is closed, we are to be paid for services we offered....
 
Don't you have established procedures for this kind of things? The lawyer is not the responsible person. I promise that if you put the lawyer into collections you will be sued. You are correct you have to go after the patient.
 
Of course you can legally put your patient into collections, he owes you money. But, is it worth it to ruin someone's credit, when, his/her case isn't even closed yet? If I were you, I'd call the county and find out what's going to be happening with his/her court case. If they are still in the process, you are smart enough to know that you're not going to collect until they get THEIR money from the person that injured them in the car accident. You have to find out the status of his/her case. You can take it from there. You also know the difference between right and wrong, and what sacrifices people have to make sometimes. So use your judgement, try to be understanding, and if you're going to go after anyone, I'd let it be the lawyer, even though your patient is the one who can't pay the bill, we all know that the person injured in the car accident doesn't deserve any more bad things to happen in their life.
 
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