Workman's Compensation Question

[MellowOne]

First, thanks to everyone for your response about Social Security for my mom. It really help termendously. She has hired an attorney to do her appeal. He sounds positive about her claim so she's happy.

She's been on workman's compensation because she can't work. I was just curious if anyone has any stories about their workman's comp? She is thinking about writing a book about her experiences with Workman's compensation and Social Security that might help others.

[Freebird12004]

1. you must be kidding

"workman's comp" will add a psychological diagnose to the injury!

[MellowOne]

3. Will you explain that?

Thanks.

[R3dD0g]

2. My wife has been on Workers Comp for almost 3 yrs.

She fell at work, the first Dr. introduced an infection into her spine, the second Dr. cleaned out the infection and finally had to fuse some vertebra and the third (final?) Dr. has said her nerves are damaged beyond use, causing them to be unable to regulate the blood flow controlling the temperature of one leg. He's afraid she'll lose the leg.

When we finally got the attention of the WC insurance carrier, we were assigned a case nurse who has been with us every step of the way. We screwed up and hired a lawyer in fall 2003, but fired him last summer.

Arkansas' workers comp law is one of the most worker unfriendly in the nation, and none of the personal injury lawyers wants to mess with an infection case, so we're pretty much at the mercy of the WC insurance company.

I want to say that Zurich, the insurance company, has laid out close to $250,000 ($20K for meds alone) in this case and we've been generally happy with them. Some rough spots, but more good treatment than bad.

The Social Security admin has been great also. When they denied our first claim for disability, we neglected to appeal. One of their employees hounded us to get the appeal paperwork in. She couldn't say that all first apps are denied, but she hinted that an appeal would be approved, and it was.

So, other than the fact that my wife will be disabled for life; our experiences with the impersonal bureaucracies have been free of horror stories.

[MellowOne]

4. How did the doctor introduce infection into her spine?

Was it because of a disogram? My mom is scheduled to have one. Also my mom's leg has been numb for over a year.

I'm sorry to hear your wife has permanent damage. Is there anything they could have done to prevent this? Do you have any recourse to recover damages?

[Sgent]

5. Can't comment

on this specific case, but anytime you cut a hole, poke(needle), or insert a foriegn body into the human body you run the risk of infection.

Although different areas are more prone to problems, any time you break the skin you run the risk. The risk of infection goes up as you enter into areas that are normally very, very clean biologically.

[zann725]

6. You were lucky then with SSDI. Most I know are NOT pursued by SS

to reapply. But instead (even WITH attorneys), they are made to wait usually over a year to have their claim heard. And then approximately another 6 months until they receive their FIRST ("retro") benefits. Most people I know give up during this period, since most lose where they live, and can not afford to continue receiving medical coverage while they wait (which of course disqualifies their claim).

I guess it depends on the area. I live in L.A., so the case-load here is probably extra heavy. But is truly inhumane, and self-defeating.

Same with Workers Comp here. And now that Arnold Schwartznegger came into office, they've revamped the Workers' Comp system to rule out MOST of the cases. And even the ones that do get approved, have far less "allowed" medical treatments. They've only had the new Workers' Comp system in effect a little over a year here, and already most of the WC Clinics are closing for lack of business. People can be legitimately injured at work, but now (at least in California), they've become "frivolous" litigation.