re: YouTube series focuses on the Louisiana trial lawyer scam

I think the biggest thing the public doesn't realize is just how much the doctors are tied in and how lucrative personal injury work is for them. And we aren't just talking about chiropractors and pain management docs. Neurosurgeons and Orthopedic Surgeons are VERY much tied in as well because those are the guys/girls who recommend/perform the neck/back surgeries. The biggest incentive for them (aside from a steady patient referral base) is that PI work is the only means in which they can theoretically get paid the full value of their charges (because of the collateral source rule). Medicaid, Medicare, private health insurance all pay contracted rates to the docs. That is, even though the doctor may bill $1,000 for the service, the insurers are only going to pay their far lower contracted rate and the doc can't recover the difference. But, as you noted, in a PI case (assuming insurance hasn't already paid the bill) the plaintiff can recover the full $1,000 which technically he would owe to the doctor. The plaintiff's attorney negotiates with the doctor for a lower payoff amount (ex. 50% to 66% of the $1,000) but in many cases what the doctor gets paid is still more than what he would have gotten paid by insurance for a similar service. And some doctors won't negotiate their fees. They want the whole charge. Which means they are getting paid $1,000 for a service they would never recover $1,000 for through insurance. It creates an even greater incentive for the doctor to run up the bills.

I have good friends who are Neurosurgeons and Orthopedic surgeons who flat out will not do an IME for me in a case I'm defending because they don't want to get cross-ways with the plaintiff's bar. Understandably so. Because that is a big client base for them.

Now, that said, defense attorneys also have to acknowledge that in one BIG respect full blown tort reform is bad for them as well. Fewer lawsuits = fewer lawsuits to DEFEND