If you sustain an injury caused by the negligent actions of another individual, business, or entity, you will very likely incur various types of expenses. Perhaps the most pressing expenses that you have to worry about is medical bills. In order to secure medical services before you have received a settlement or jury verdict award, it may be necessary to ask medical professionals to render care until your payments come through.
A letter of protection can be sent by your attorney to the medical professionals to guarantee payment for the services they provide after your settlement or jury verdict money comes in. Here, we want to discuss the details of a letter of protection so you understand what to expect for your personal injury case.
How a Letter of Protection Works
If a person sustains an injury caused by the careless or negligent actions of someone else, then the injury victim’s personal health insurance carrier may be hesitant to pay the medical bills.
Why would this be the case?
Well, insurance carriers simply do not like to pay out money if they do not have to. If their policyholder sustains an injury caused by the actions of another individual or entity, then the insurance carrier likely wants the other party to pay for the expenses. For example, if any injury was caused by the actions of another driver, the at-fault driver’s insurance carrier will typically be responsible for covering compensation. If a person sustains a workplace injury, workers’ compensation insurance should be responsible for the costs.
This can leave injury victims in a messy situation when it comes to paying medical bills while they await a settlement or personal injury jury verdict in these cases. A person has to receive medical care for their current and ongoing injuries caused by the incident. They cannot put this on hold.
A letter of protection (LOP) can be written by an injury victim’s attorney and then sent to any medical professional treating the victim. This letter will allow the injury victim to receive medical care that they would not otherwise have been able to afford with their own finances. The LOP is meant to provide a guarantee to the medical providers that they will receive payment for the services that they render out of any final settlement or jury verdict awarded to the injury victim.
Benefits of a Letter of Protection
Letters of protection are going to be formal letters, typically written by an attorney. A personal injury lawyer will have extensive experience handling these claims, and they will understand what needs to be contained inside a letter of protection in order to help the injury victim receive the medical care that they need.
The LOP will typically inform the health care provider that the personal insurance carrier of the victim is not going to take responsibility for the incident and that the attorney has been employed to help the injury victim recover compensation. The letter will politely ask the medical providers in question to accept the LOP has a guarantee that the injury victim will pay for their services out of the eventual injury settlement or jury verdict.
In addition to this information and request, the letter of protection will also make it clear that, should a settlement or jury verdict not be rendered, the injury victim will remain responsible for the full balance of the medical bills.
Letters of protection create a legally binding contract between an injury victim, their attorney, and the health care providers handling the case. Medical professionals should be paid in accordance with the terms of the LOP when a settlement or jury verdict comes through.