I'm Nick Thompson a partner at Casey Jones law we're a firm dedicated to representing Railroad employees. Part of representing railroad employees is not just helping them after the fact. It's also educating them on their rights. For that reason we're making a series of videos on the questions we're most often ask. We hope they help.

You have suffered an injury and you're on your way to get treatment, what should you know? First you have a right to go to a doctor of your choosing, not the railroads’. Railroads will often take employees to what they call a “preferred provider.” And what that really means is it's someone they do a lot of business with, who they know will try and help them. The doctors are not someone who's going to try and help you. It's someone who is going to try and help the railroad. That's why Congress has given you a right to go to a doctor of your choosing.

Second often times supervisors will try to follow you in to your patient room.  Why? Because they want to influence treatment in ways that will help them. There's a number of reasons for that we talk about that in another video. But the Salient point is Congress has given you a right to kick them out. It's something you should tell them to wait in the lobby. You do not have to discuss your treatment with them and they certainly should not be discussing it with your doctors.