Workers Comp Help
Torn Trapizius Muscle and Nerve Entrapment From Work Injury
In October of 2003 I was working at MBS in Columbia, Missouri. I was brought a pallet that was stacked seven boxes high. That would make the height around 7 ft. tall. I am 5'5". Pulling down the boxes I nearly got clubbed in the head with a 58 lb. box.
Getting the box on the table I felt the pain across my upper back. Figuring I just strained something I went on with my work. The next day I was in a lot of pain and told my Supervisor that I wanted to take the next day off to see if it could get any better. I told him that I had hurt myself the day before. He asked no questions and told me sure.
For the next month I was put on other work until I moved to another department. I was working for about 2 days when the pain in my shoulder was just getting worse and worse. Afrer about a week I could handle the pain no more and told my new supervisor that I had hurt myself and wanted to see a doctor.
They put me on light duty for 1 day and when I came back on Monday they wanted me to go right back to my normal duties. When I told them again that I wanted to go see a doctor they began "the TREATMENT". You know that treatment, where you are some kind of criminal or degenerate all because you ruined their day by getting hurt.
Then came the doctors. I have been told things by these doctors that have me terrified to let them treat me. I was told by one doctor that the pain I was experiencing was due to stress. There were no x-rays done, no CAT Scans, no MRI.
By the time any of this was done, first off it was done by my own private doctor, because the other doctor would not do them. Secondly it was so long after the accident that the tear in the muscle was already healed. Unfortunately it was not healed correctly. Then the first doctor sent me to a different doctor because the company decided to change work comp doctors. This was after he had sent me back to work on full duty when I was still in a lot of pain.
This other doctor has told me that the pain in my arm is impossible because "there are no nerves in the back or neck that run to the arms and legs" and that "walking and standing and sitting should not bother my upper back because you do not use your back muscles to do any of those things". And mind you that during all of this, my supervisor and HR work comp director are treating me like I have the plague. They will not talk to me, they will not work with me. When I tell them that an activity hurts me they act as though I just told them that I ran over their family pet. I was made to feel like I was nothing but a bother and that I should just get back to work and quit complaining.
Finally I consulted a lawyer. My personal doctor sent me to a chiropractor because the company doctor does not believe in them and therefore did not wish to send me to one. He did send me to a physical therapist who's ministrations caused my headaches, that have been caused by this injury, to become worse. My job has become so miserable for me that I sometimes wish for death rather than to have to go to that place. But I can't quit or I can't get the healthcare that I need.
Because of my pain and the headaches I have been working less and less hours and because of this I have lost my insurance. And just today I found out that my Impairment rating is Full Body 11% and all I can think of is that I am now only 88% of a human being. I can't pick up my 3 year old son anymore. I can't go to the park and play with him. I can't sit on the floor and play cars or dinosaurs. I can't wrestle with him or play ring around the rosy. And the worst part is, that I can't provide for him anymore.
I am a 25 year old mother who can't be a mother to her son anymore. At least not the mother that I used to be. And how am I supposed to tell my 3 year old son "I'm sorry baby, I know you don't feel good, but mommy can't hold you."
How am I supposed to make him understand that. And do these people care. NO! Of course not. They don't care that by violating OSHA safety rules they hurt me. They don't care that I am in pain. They don't care that I am going to lose my car because they don't care to pay me for all this time I have lost from work because they hurt me. Their idiot doctor says that I can stand and sit and walk for 8 hrs a day. Fortunately for him he doesn't have to walk or stand or sit in my shoes, with my pain. And he definitely does not have to live with my excruciating headaches. Lucky him!
There should be more laws to protect workers from people like this. There should be more ways for us to put people like this out of business. I am not the first at this institution and I will not be the last. They will continue to hurt people and get away with it. They intimidate people into keeping their mouths shut about their injuries. Other people go back to work before they are better to keep from being punished.
And these people just keep getting away with it, because they skim the law by their teeth. The barest of bones just to keep from being in violation of the law. There should be stricter laws to keep our workers safe from employers who care nothing for our safety.