A petition for benefits is the workers’ compensation equivalent of a civil complaint. It is the legal vehicle used to initiate litigation against the employer and its insurance carrier (E/C).
Section 440.192, Florida Statutes, outlines the required contents of every petition, its purpose being to equip E/C with sufficient information to make informed decisions.
The so-called prescription doctrine finds its supposed legal foundation in Section 440.192(2)(i), which states:
“The type or nature of treatment, care, or attendance sought and the justification for such treatment. If the employee is under the care of a physician for an injury identified under paragraph (c), a copy of the physician’s request, authorization, or recommendation for treatment, care, or attendance must accompany the petition.”
Many practitioners and judges interpret this subsection as requiring a physician’s written request with every petition seeking medical care. They view the two sentences as linked and dependent. As a result, E/C routinely files motions to dismiss petitions that lack a doctor’s written request.
I respectfully disagree with this widely accepted interpretation.
In my view, each sentence of 440.192(2)(i) applies independently to different scenarios. They are not intertwined.
Florida Statutes Section 440.13(2) sets forth the E/C’s duty to provide necessary medical treatment. Authorized physicians routinely recommend services such as physical therapy, diagnostic studies, and specialist referrals. In such cases, the second sentence of 440.192(2)(i) applies—but only when the petition relies on a physician’s written request for that treatment. (Notably, this request may not be limited to authorized physicians.)
However, the statute does not state that a physician’s request must always accompany a claim for medical benefits.
The second sentence simply instructs that if there is a written request, include it. This makes sense—if a written recommendation exists, attaching it facilitates an informed response from the E/C. Nothing more.
Conversely, the first sentence of 440.192(2)(i) outlines what is required when the request for treatment does not stem from a physician’s prescription. In those cases, the claimant must state the “type or nature” of the requested care and provide a justification. The aim remains the same: to allow the E/C to assess the claim.
This interpretation finds support in Burdick v. Bob’s Space Racers, 659 So. 2d 351 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). In Burdick, the claimant filed a petition seeking chiropractic treatment. The Judge of Compensation Claims (JCC) dismissed the petition, and the First District Court of Appeal affirmed the dismissal—not because it lacked a doctor’s request, but because it failed to meet the requirements of the first sentence of 440.192(2)(i). The second sentence was not even addressed, suggesting it was inapplicable to that claim.
In practice, a claimant may be unable to obtain a physician’s written request. This is especially true when the E/C authorizes treatment only for limited injuries, restricting providers from addressing other complaints. Some physicians, uncertain about their authority or unwilling to anger E/C, simply refrain from issuing prescriptions. In more extreme cases, the E/C refuses to authorize any treatment at all—making it impossible to obtain a prescription.
Such obstacles should not bar a claimant from seeking and securing medical care. The first sentence of 440.192(2)(i) exists precisely to address these circumstances.
Conclusion: The rigid insistence on a physician’s prescription with every petition for medical benefits misreads the statute. A more reasonable and legally supported interpretation recognizes the independence of the two sentences in 440.192(2)(i). This reading preserves both the claimant’s right to pursue care and the E/C’s ability to evaluate the request.
It’s time to retire the myth and restore clarity to the process.
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Jeffrey P. Gale, P.A. is a South Florida based law firm committed to the judicial system and to representing and obtaining justice for individuals – the poor, the injured, the forgotten, the voiceless, the defenseless and the damned, and to protecting the rights of such people from corporate and government oppression. We do not represent government, corporations or large business interests.
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