Work Injury

Good evening everyone!

Yesterday at work I had to lift a 6 year old child on a trampoline and got a pain in my shoulder. I ended up filling out an incident report and was sent to the walk in clinic today since my entire arm is now numb and hurting.

Of course the first paper you had to fill out was an acknowledgement of a post accident drug screen as well as medical history and whatnot. Since my drs are within their network, all of my meds and history allready popped upon their screen with my name.

Now I am super paranoid, WC and my employer now seem to have unlimited access to pretty much everything. Of course things will show on my drug screen, all prescribed, but it will be there.

So the dr said I may have a rotator cuff tear or tendonitis, of course I have my fingers crossed for the second. He offered meds, which of course I refused, so that is noted on my chart that I refused meds due to my "chronic narcotic usage" and "pain management contract". These are the exact words on my treatment plan.

I now fear that reporting my injury and getting checked is going to bite me big time! What do you think? Or am I over thinking this?

Hi shell, I'm sorry you hurt your shoulder. With workers comp, there's just too possibilities to even think about predicting an outcome. I think at this point, the best advise I can give is to start becoming as familiar as possible with the worker's comp laws in your state. If it was California, I could give you the run down, but they very tremendously from state to state. You need to know what your rights are, and what the insurance company has a right to look at, and what they dont, like in my state, your insurance company can ask for your full medical history, but they cant dig it out on their own, they need a court order, or for you to sign a waiver. Generally speaking, any past conditions wouldn't really make a big difference to them until it was settlement time, and then they will try to use your medical history as a route to limit their liability for any permanent partial disabillities sustained from the work injury.

Well, the first thing that has to happen right now, is that your claim has to be accepted. So make sure you dotted your I's and crossed all your T's on the forms. Besides that, most workers compensation claims go through the whole process without any problems. The main thing is, if trouble starts to arrise, that's when it's time to consult an attorney, don't try to take on the insurance company by yourself. I've seen a number of people do that, and wound up getting the shaft.

Be vigilant, and be organized, keep every piece of paper, and every receipt. Keep a medical mileage log for your car, if you don't get reimbursed for mileage, it's a tax writeoff. Also, make sure you keep a seperate calander for your work comp stuff, and write on there the exact dates and times of everything, including your date and time of injury.

Well, I really hope that this works out, I think everyone here has some kind of horror story that they know of where work comp shafted either them, or a loved one, or a friend, the best way you can do is be as informed as possible. Work comp has tried to put me through the ringer a couple times in the last year, but I knew the laws, and I got an attorney when I saw that I was going to be in over my head without one.

If you need any help with specific laws, just let me know, I'd be happy to help you out as much as I can. Take care, and I'll be praying for you

BTW, from experience... if your arm is numb down the back, with the pinky and ring finger... Ice the back of your shoulder, if you can, just above the armpit. Only way I was able to work drivethrough when I was working at Mcdonalds in college, otherwise I'd drop drinks in people's laps and all over the front seat of their car.

Thank you everyone very much. I am an occupational therapist working with kids. I drive my own vehicle during my day. I guess I am not so worried about the claim itself, to me it seems pretty straight forward as of now, but the details written on the treatment plan that my employer gets. They have no clue that I have had any back surgeries or anything. Since I have been cleared for work by my drs there was no need to disclose my past history, its none of their business as long as I can perform my job. Now I am worried they will want to dig into why I take meds and push the issue of the "official" lifting job requirements. My dr says to me I can lift 50 pounds, but he would never go on record and say I should do it all day long. This place is crazy, they seem to be looking for reasons to get rid of people and replace them withlesser paid individuals. Times like these I am glad I have a union rep.

Hi Shell, when you returned back to work after your last surgery, by chance did your dr give you a letter stating that your medication did not interfere with your ability to work? If not you may want to get a note from your dr stating this. A friend of mine had to get this letter when she returned back to work to give the employer.

Truthfully, I think you are over thinking things and I would probably feel the very same way. I imagine you felt vulnerable seeing your info out there as you did, I would have.

You can do a google search for your state to read about the worker's comp laws or you can call a law firm & speak with a paralegal who can tell you the ins & outs & what you are entitled under the worker's comp act. Each state is different with their laws too. Like in my state, all school districts are self insured.

I would not jump up and hire an atty either. You need to see what your medical situation is going to amount to, whether this is something will resolve on its own shortly or is it going to be a long term thing. At this point hiring an atty would be premature and possibly pointless. I am not anti-atty either, I worked as a paralegal over 20 yrs. I just do not believe in hiring one until they are actually needed. For the time being you can get a tablet and keep all of your info related to the claim written down in this tablet. Also, if your job is one with a union, that union can be valuable source to you. Anyway just some things to think about.....Take care...Susie

straydog said...

Truthfully, I think you are over thinking things and I would probably feel the very same way. I imagine you felt vulnerable seeing your info out there...

You are probably right Susie. I do tend to over think things too,lol. I have worked hard to keep my medical issues quite. My major surgeries were all before I started with this school and I was fully released. My SCS was during the summer and I returned with no official restrictions from my dr. As far as I know there is nothing in our manuals about restrictions on medication usage. Our HR person is very underhanded and likes to spin things in her favor, she is very vendictive, I think thats my worry. Several people have dissapeared recently, fired for no apparent reasons. I have no plans of an attorney, but I will not hesitate to call my union rep if needed.

Thank you all for getting me to calm down a bit!