Workers Comp Help
Severely Injured On The Job
Where do you want me to begin? With the money being held back so that I am in total financial ruin? Or with the doctor and hospital bills not being paid and collection agencies chasing me (not that I don't have enough trouble with my own personal bills and I am losing everything that I worked for)? Or the fact that I never had a doctor before the accident, so I don't have a medical history, but I am being accused of all of this being pre-existing!
Concussion, whiplash, severed arteries, recessed eye, optic nerve damage, shoulder impingement, rib cage dysfunction, C2-3,3-4,4-5,5-6, bulging disks, T7-8, herniated disk causing rib cage dysfunction, T10-11 disk herniation with chronic lesions, L1-2 bulging,2-3 herniation, numbness from head, neck shoulder, arms, hands and right leg, severe dizziness, inner ear damage, intermittent hearing loss, vision loss in right eye, pain in trachea, constant headaches and migraines to the point of total vision loss; light and sound sensitive. Cannot bend, lift, or care for myself the way I used to. Can no longer bake, cook, peel a potato or an apple, sew, knit or crochet and do crafts. 100% disabled - from being rear-ended going to the bank with a deposit for my boss.
Something is wrong with the left arm and elbow - but comp will not allow tests for it - according to them it was not hurt in the accident - even though it was black and blue and I had the mark from the seat belt across my chest. The seat was broke from the impact and my glasses were broke. I have not been reimbursed for any of my glasses or any mileage. They have denied my medications. Seven months after the accident, they FINALLY approved an MRI of the thoracic spine (I couldn't breathe and had severe chest pain for months after the accident - they kept telling me to take a deep breath - it was all in my head and pre-existing!) The MRI showed T7-8 disk herniation and T10-11 disk herniation with chronic lesions. They stopped my eply treatments and vestibular treatments from the inner ear damage to send me for physical therapy to "cure" my herniated disk.
At the same time they sent me to their first IME who performed a HalPike. Wrong thing to do. Brought back all dizzy spells - making them worse than ever and increased the pains to the head making me sicker than before. Two weeks after that I was asked to leave physical therapy by my therapist because I could not make the sessions. I was too sick and I kept losing my vision and going blind for over an hour at a time (thanks to the HalPike their doctor performed on me). Ten months after the accident they finally approved the MRI for the cervical and lumbar area - that's when they found the bulging and herniated disks in the cervical area and the lumbar area. An MRA was ordered but that wasn't approved until more than a year after the accident and the VER wasn't approved until 16 months after the accident. But the left arm and shoulder - I guess it must belong to someone else - they don't want to hear about it. I do not have full use of both arms. I cannot walk a distance and I am dizzy most of the time. I cannot watch television or read for more than 10 minutes without getting a severe headache.
Most of my time is spent laying down. They still have not paid for my walker and want to know why I need a cane. Unfortunately - I cannot feel my right thigh 90% of the time. My eyes shake in my head when I am in a reclined position. My right eye is uneven and I cannot focus. They refuse to pay the neuro-ophthalmalogist because they refuse to accept the fact that the optic nerve damage was caused by the accident. They said it wasn't. The damn eye just "swims" inside my head - it's loose. I have a prescription for a pair of glasses from the neuro-opthalmalopgist from February 2003 that they have not approved yet! And they have the nerve to send me a notice that they are now denying my pain management doctor. Get this - they have denied my visits to the pain management counselor and now they are taking away my pain management doctor. They have taken away my therapists, they have taken away my money, they have denied my medications, they are not paying my doctors do that my doctors can refuse to see me............what do you want me to tell you.
Am I stressed????? Am I depressed????? Would you be????? Do you know what my life is like compared to the life I had?
Do you know what an injured worker is?
An injured worker is the person who lives right in your own neighborhood - maybe on your street or right next door to you. That is the person who out there making a living to pay their mortgage, phone, gas, electric and cable just like everyone else. Even their car payments, insurance and credit card bills. They are probably coaching your kids little league games, or hockey games, or car pooling kids to bowling and after school activities. They may volunteer at school or church functions or maybe even drive a day or two for meals on wheels. They vote, go to church, get active in the community, support community groups, donate money and time. They mow their lawns, keep up with their property, join the PTA, bake cookies for baked good sales, bring a casserole to the neighbor when there is a death in the family; smile and wave to you as you pass by them on the street. When they become disabled through no fault of their own - why are they treated like animals, like they don't deserve to live, like they don't deserve to have medicine, doctors, tests, etc. This could happen to you - or one of your loved ones. Think about it.
Don't you think we would like to get better - feel better?? We are not criminals trying to live off "the system". Get it out of your heads. Maybe that's what YOU would do - not me.