Workers Comp Help
Multiple Disc Herniations From Moving Heavy Object At Work
I was injured on the job in 1999 when made to move an object that was deemed "not too heavy for me" by my employer. I tried to move it and I felt my entire private area "rip" and "burn". When calculating the weight of the object and it's contents, it came out to be 200-250 pounds. I am 5"6" tall and weigh 115 pounds, so this job was ridiculously absurd for me to be doing. There are no cranes at that facility. What they made me do, violates NIOSH and OSHA lifting/moving standards beyond reality.
At first, I was diagnosed with severe hemorrhoids and anal spasm, but there continued to be several other problems that weren't being detected. I have NEVER had any health problems prior to the injury and I have 14 years or more of medical records proving that, that I submitted to the BWC.
Eventually, I sought the opinion of a colo-rectal surgeon and he tried to treat me for close to a year before telling me, AND the BWC that I needed to see a pelvic floor specialist, because he felt that I had pelvic floor muscle damage. The BWC ignored that request but allowed me to see an OB-GYN. The MCO found that OB-GYN and I was sent to see him. He wrote that I needed to see a pelvic floor specialist as I had one visible hernia that needed repair. Despite the MCO doctor's recommendation AND my colo-rectal doctors recommendation, it took me almost a full year to get the allowance to see a specialist. By that time, my herniations worsened extensively.
The BWC allowed visits to the pelvic floor specialist until they were told that I had tore the muscles that hold all of our internal organs in place, and that I had at least one hernia and that I needed surgery. Instead, they sent me to one of their quacks, that was NOT qualified to deal with the physical problems that I had, and he wrote that there was nothing wrong with me. I was made to go back to work. By this time, I was diagnosed with prolapse grade one, and my bladder and reproductive organs were starting to fall out. I lasted two weeks at work and my doctor took me out of work until the full extent of my problems could be identified.
I waited another year, fighting, until finally I decided that I could wait no more and had the surgery under my own COBRA insurance. When my surgeon got inside of me to see the extent of my injuries, my bladder, uterus, and vagina were all herniated and both sides of my vaginal muscles were torn away from the pelvis. By now I was diagnosed with prolapse grade two. This required me to have to have a hysterectomy so that they could use the uterosacral ligaments to re-suspend my organs back into place, as well as having to have 5 places in my pelvis fixed with permanent suture.
The BWC/MCO fight this claiming that most women have this condition as a result of pregnancy/childbirth, or "coughing" or at ONE time, tried to blame it on menstrual cramps. Funny thing is, I have never been pregnant and I don't have a chronic cough from a pulmonary condition. I have never had gynecological problems either. They KNOW this because I submitted 14 years of OB-GYN records for them to review along with all of my other doctor's reports.
I am in my fifth year of dealing with this with no end in sight. Although I have four doctors concurring on what was wrong with me and that it was herniations and torn muscles, the state of Ohio insists that I don't deserve the condition allowed on my claim. They never even classified the condition they DID allow with a proper ICD-9 code. MY doctors code number is nowhere near the classification that they put in my claim. I have lost the ability to have children, lost an 18 year career in the skilled trades, my once AAA credit rating has been destroyed, I am never allowed to lift more than 12 pounds ever again, I am not allowed to take a job standing on my feet for more than two hours at a time, I am never allowed to do physical labor ever again and I have been destroyed financially.
When looking through the Ohio Revised Code for statutes, in legal school, I have found many statutes that the BWC and MCO are NOT adhering to. My lawyer and I will present my case this year in civil court. I only hope that the jurors hearing the case have more common sense than the people working for the BWC have. In any case, I am questioning heavily whether or not I will remain a citizen of this rotten state once this is all over with. Pennsylvanis is close, perhaps I will go there where they have a legitimate comp system.