And Pain Psychologist says....................

I totally agree and though I have not sought out an attorney at this point (not one will touch my case until WC sends me a denial of benefits letter) I have a feeling that if it is needed it is going to be a long fight. I don't understand why WC feels (or I should say my adjuster) that the SCS does not work on ANYONE because I have seen several people (ie. susie, my sister-in-law and others) that have the SCS and the pain pump that lead decent levels of pain control and are back to a semi-normal life because of the SCS. Even though I have told my WC gal this she still maintains that it does NOT work for Anyone! What?????

I was happy to do this last evaluation as it was NOT a WC interpretation and totally unbiased opinion. The last two were WC ordered and set up by them which I believe that they were either paid for a biased answer or were influenced somehow by WC. In my opinion I think that Wyoming WC has gone off the deep end when it comes to allowing a patient to take their own course of treatment. I can only say that with my wonderful PCP doc that I am hopeful that WC will see his way about things. If you all remember right he really got mad at WC for demanding so many things and told them either they allow him to treat me the way he wishes or that he would release me and they could find a doctor that would see their terms. With that was a little enlightenment regarding the SCS device and I think that is why WC backed down.

Sometimes I wonder if they are really clued into what the SCS is suppose to do.

Hugs

Scarred

This is really an educational thread. Susie - I totally agree re: I.M.E.'s be they for physical or psychological reasons. Anytime a doctor or health care practitioner is paid by the insurance company, opposing attorney, employer, etc. you are not going to get an unbaised opinion. Because if they gave unbiased opinions, then the insurers, etc. would end up having to pay which is what they're trying to avoid. So they wouldn't send that doctor or therapist any more business. But it can be a dependable stream of income for a doctor or other provider.

Regarding the MMPI, the questions themselves won't make sense. It's complicated to explain how the test is constructed, but it relates to having questions that people who have a certain symptoms or condition will tend to answer a certain way based on thousands of questionnairres, etc. It's designed to not be visible to the untrained eye, especially if you have people who are sociopathic or other serious disorders. And then the test is "normed" on different populations to supposedly make it reliable and valid. It's all about how psychometric tests are constructed, and don't try to make sense out of it without taking courses in Statistics and Methods. At any rate, it's easy to administer (for the person administering it, not for us taking it!), and it's computer scored, and psychologists can make some money on it, coupled with interviewing for the total evaluation package. Legally, places use it as a way to CYA because it is the most widely used test, and in a court someone can question why it wasn't administered. Enough about that!

Off to eat some M&M's.

PaLady
BYW Scarred, I don't know about all the legal aspects of W.C. like Susie does, but I'd be afraid to have the stim if I didn't know how future needs/treatment would be paid for. I would wonder if some private insurance companies (i.e.,your husband's insurance) could refuse to pay based on the fact it was a W.C. case. I don't know, but I'd sure want an attorney straightening all that out before I signed off on anything!

Post Edited (PAlady) : 3/6/2009 5:06:07 PM (GMT-7)