Can I choose my own doctor for a work injury in California?

Only if you predesignated your personal physician in writing before the injury; otherwise the employer's medical provider network controls treatment. Labor Code section 4600 lets an employee with group health coverage who gave the employer advance written notice treat with their own doctor from the first visit onward.

Control of treatment is decided mostly before the injury happens. Labor Code section 4600 allows an employee to predesignate a personal physician — in writing, before injury, where the employee has group health coverage and the doctor agrees — and a valid predesignation keeps care with that physician from day one. Without it, treatment runs through the employer's medical provider network (MPN) established under Labor Code section 4616: the employer arranges the initial visit, but after that first appointment the worker may switch to any physician within the network and may obtain second and third opinions inside it, plus an independent medical review of a disputed diagnosis. If the employer has no valid MPN and fails to provide care, control of treatment can pass to the employee. Disputes about what treatment is necessary follow utilization review and independent medical review rather than the doctor's say-so alone. Because the treating physician's reporting shapes disability ratings and job restrictions, who holds the pen matters throughout the claim.

Authority: Cal. Lab. Code § 4600