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In the practice of personal injury law it is very common for us to see clients who have been injured in an accident yet have no health insurance in order to pay for medical bills. Having been in the practice of accident/injury law for almost 30 years we have developed relationships with doctors in virtually all medical specialties who will render medical care to our injured clients on a lien basis.

A lien is a formal written agreement between the patient and doctor. The doctor agrees to perform the necessary medical treatment in return for a promise on the part of the injured patient to pay the bill once the personal injury case is resolved. Few doctors will agree to perform services on a lien basis unless the patient has an attorney, as the attorney will be a signatory to the lien agreement. The attorney will act in a fiduciary capacity, or position of trust, to the doctor and protect his right to payment. A common misconception of the lien agreement is that the doctor's payment is contingent on the outcome of the case. While it is common for attorneys to perform legal services on a contingent fee basis, doctors do not perform medical care dependent on the outcome of the personal injury case. The lien is simply the doctors agreement to await payment until the accident/injury case comes to an end. At such time the payment for medical services becomes due.

It should be noted that not all doctors accept liens, and not all doctors who accept liens will do so in every case. The medical lien is a valuable tool to enable victims of accidents who otherwise do not have access to medical care to receive treatment for their injuries.