Workers Comp Help
Cervical Disc Injury At Work
I was injured nearly two years ago. At first, my employer treated me like they honestly cared. As time went by, and Physical Therapy did not correct my condition, things got nasty, as they refused any other treatment to correct my injury. As soon as the doctor returned me to work with restrictions, at the insistence of my employer, things turned sour.
My employer began assigning me jobs, that were clearly against doctor's restrictions, then cut my hours dramatically. My supervisor then gave me an option to do the work they had for me (clearly against their own doctor's restrictions) or go home. I attempted it, since I needed the money, but that resulted in a second injury to my neck, and I was back in the emergency room that evening.
When the insurance company stopped all payments authorizations for medical treatment and prescriptions, I filed a complaint with the Worker's Compensation Bureau. My first mediation, was conducted via phone call to the insurance company's attorney, as they did not appear. I hired an attorney, and had four scheduled hearings in the following year. Each hearing was postponed at the request of the insurance company's attorney for reasons such as, didn't know about hearing, fired prior attorney, new attorney needs time to look over case, can't make it on that day, etc.
While the Worker's Comp Bureau was allowing this to happen, we were struggling financially, and nearly lost everything we have. Our credit is ruined. I wrote and/or visited our Governor's office, AG's office (where I was dismissed like a peasant), the Worker's Compensation Bureau, the Insurance Commissioner's office, several Representative's, Congressman, and Senators. Not one person was willing to stand up for me, and offer anything other than a letter to the Worker's Comp Bureau.
On my last hearing date, I was told that I WOULD have my hearing on that date, because all the letters I had written had the bureau "all up in arms". I did have my hearing that day, but not without the request from the insurance company's attorney for another postponement. I received the ruling in the mail a couple weeks later. The Magistrate ruled in my favor, and ordered the insurance company to pay all my back pay, plus interest, and begin paying me weekly benefit checks, plus my medical.
My employer appealed the ruling, now I have another year to wait for that hearing. We have three children to support, and my husband has been having medical problems of his own, that has resulted in him missing alot of work. While we play the waiting game of Worker's Comp, we will continue to lose what we haven't already.