questions & answers

Question: This question does not exactly have to do with car accidents,though the situation arose from one.I cannot find adivse on this anywhere-A chiropracter placed a medical lein when someone rear ended me.The insurance company should have paid,chiropracter cooresponded with them 2yrs later which was past the statute of limitations and I guess just dropped it.This was 2002.The lein now sits at the county recorder and cannot be revoked unless by the Dr. who no longer practices.This is now interfering with my house buying process.I have called everywhere and get nothing but brick walls.Please help

Answer:

A medical lien is a typically a contract between your personal injury attorney & your doctor. I have never seen one of these liens become a public record, since the doctor is looking to the medical insurance policy for payment. By having the security of the lien, the doctor is willing to hold off on receiving payment & will not turn you over to collection.

Unless there is a public record of the lien & the medical debt, the credit bureaus will not have a record of the medical lien. It will simply stay in your attorney's file until the settlement check comes in from your mva, and at that time, the lien will be paid from the settlement proceeds. I have seldom seen doctor's bills show up on a credit report unless these debts have gone to collection. From my perspective, the lien is protecting you from a ding on your credit and isn't causing you any negative credit.