Workers Comp Help
Back Injury On The Job
I injured my back at work in June of '99, at first it really didn't bother me but after a few days it started to hurt so I went and filled out an accident report, then I went to the Chiropractor after the second visit I couldn't even walk when I came out, and when I got home it was worse, I started missing days of work.
Anyway I went to my local Dr. and he referred me to a sport and rehab specialist, what a joke! after P/T three epidurals and so on he said there was nothing more he could do for me and I was in so much pain. I would get up in the morning and actually drag myself to work, after work I could not hardly walk, so I asked the Dr. for a second opinion, and he refused me.
I went and found a lawyer, and the Dr. finally let me go for a second opinion. When I went to my second opinion Dr. he put my MRI up on the x-ray board and showed me exactly where my spine was being pinched and the disc had slipped. told me all he could offer me was surgery, so we got all the way to the day before surgery and the W/C denied it. We tried to get my personal insurance to pay but they refused saying it was work related.
W/C sent me for a IME to their Dr. he didn't have my MRI and told me he couldn't make any decisions until he saw it, well he wrote the W/C a letter the same day that I saw him and told them a lot of different things than he had said to me.
Anyway finally in August I was able to have my surgery (fusion w/hip bone implant L3-4, L4-5 and S1) we finally got the W/C to send a letter of denial to my personal insurance and they approved the surgery, which I paid for. I am at this present time getting TTD from W/C, still in a lot of pain but it is different than before, but still having numbness and pain in the other leg now? But I feel if this had been taken care of in the proper amount of time I would not be having any pain now, perhaps it has damaged something else?
Thanks for your ear."