Webinar: Expectations of Full Recovery Where Do We Place the Goalpost?

What exactly is "full recovery" from a workplace injury?
Click here to stream the replay online

• How do we manage the expectations around a workers' compensation claim?
• Is "full recovery" always realistic? 
• Can a full recovery be something less than full function? 

This FREE webinar focused on the perceptions of all stakeholders participating in the workers' compensation system and offer insight on how to address and to navigate the process successfully.

The 12 Things You Must Do If You Are Hurt At Work

Today's post comes from guest author Paul J. McAndrew, Jr. from Paul McAndrew Law Firm.

Injured workers call me all the time asking me what they need to do to make sure they protect their legal rights.  If you are hurt on the job, whether it is due to an acute traumatic injury (like cutting yourself on a saw), cumulative-trauma injury (like carpal-tunnel syndrome) or some other job-related injury, there are several basic things you should do. If you do not do any of the things on the list below, you may lose your rights under workers’ compensation law. 

Although there may be rare exceptions to this list,  following it will leave you reasonably secure that your rights are protected:

1. Report the injury. By “injury,” I mean almost any condition including but not limited to (a) an acute traumatic injury, (b) a cumulative-trauma injury, or (c) a disease or a hearing loss. You should report the injury to your supervisor or company nurse (for clarity we’ll just call these people your Supervisor from here on out), making clear your injury was caused by work. Under Iowa law, you need to make the report within 90 days of the date of your injury.
2. Make sure your Supervisor prepares a company accident report.  If your Supervisor won’t prepare the report,

Nursing Facilities Have Higher Incidence Of Workplace Injury Than Construction

Today's post comes from guest author Nathan Reckman from Paul McAndrew Law Firm.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics “Workplace Injuries and Illnesses – 2010” report, the United States is becoming a safer place to work. In 2010, there were 3.1 million non-fatal work injuries reported. This translates to 3.5 injuries per 100 full-time equivalents, a slight decrease from the 2009 rate of 3.6 injuries per 100 full-time workers. The rate of injuries per 100 workers has been decreasing every year since 2002. In 2010, Iowa reported an above average number of work injuries, averaging 4.4 injuries per 100 full-time equivalent workers.

Temporary Employees Cannot Be Excluded From Workers’ Compensation

Today's post comes from Paul J. McAndrew, Jr. of the Iowa bar. Paul 's expertise in workers' compensation issues is nationally known and he has bee an zealous advocate for workers' rights.

According to a recent decision by the Texas Supreme Court, a temporary employee cannot be excluded from an employers’ workers’ compensation policy. In 2005, Rafael Casados was killed on his third day at work at a grain storage facility owned by Port Elevator-Brownsville L.L.C.

Because Casados was a temporary employee of Port Elevator at the time of his death, he was initially awarded a liability ruling of $2.7 million directly from Port Elevator.

However, according to the latest Supreme Court ruling, Casados’s family should receive remedy under Port Elevator’s workers’ compensation policy instead. Port Elevator’s insurance provider is liable for Casados’s death benefits, despite the fact that Port Elevator never paid workers’ compensation insurance for any of their temporary employees.

According to the decision: “If Port Elevator’s policy had set out certain premiums solely for temporary workers and Port Elevator had not paid those premiums, Casados would still have been covered under the policy and the failure to pay premiums would be an issue between Port Elevator (their insurance provider).”    

 Photo Credit:sixninepixels / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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• The Hidden Cost of Jobs - Selling Fear (workers-compensation.blogspot.com)

Who Calls The Shots, Your Employer-Selected Doctor Or The Insurance Company?

Insurance companies sometimes tell doctors that they will not pay for procedures that the doctor says are medically appropriate.

Today's post comes from guest author Nathan Reckman from Paul McAndrew Law Firm.

In Iowa, employers have the right to control an injured worker’s medical care. This means that if you are injured at work, your employer gets to send you to a doctor of their choosing. The doctors chosen by the employer are called “authorized treating physicians.” In theory, after an employer chooses their authorized treating physician, they are required to pay for any care that doctor believes is necessary to treat the work injury. In practice, the employer and their workers’ compensation insurance company often try to interfere with the care the injured worker is entitled to by refusing to pay for procedures or tests recommended by their handpicked doctor.

Typically, when an authorized doctor suggests an expensive course of care (like surgery) the first thing the doctor will do is check with the insurance company to make sure the surgery is going to be paid for. Instead of immediately scheduling the needed surgery, the doctor will wait until the insurance carrier agrees to pay for the procedure. Doctors do this so they don’t have to worry about how they are going to be paid. Asking for this unneeded authorization from the insurance company means the insurance company now has a say in determining what individual procedures are proper for the care of the work injury.

We often see injured workers whose injury was initially accepted by the employer until the doctor requests authorization for an expensive surgery. When faced with the additional cost of surgery, the insurance carrier denies the work injury hoping the injured worker will either forego surgery or try to pay for the surgery through other means, such as their personal health insurance.

This situation may also arise when the authorized doctor recommends expensive diagnostic procedures, like CT scans, or refers the injured worker to a specialist, for example a psychiatrist for depression related to the work injury.

To make sure your rights are protected, it’s often helpful to have an experienced workers’ compensation attorney on your side if you’re facing a situation where your employer is trying to interfere with the decisions of their handpicked doctor. Injured workers should get the care that their doctor, not an insurance company, determines is medically appropriate.

Read more about "medical treatment" and workers' compensation.

NY Worker's Compensation Board Proposes New Medical ...

Nov 16, 2012

New York Worker's Compensation Board's proposed new medical treatment guidelines that will modify 2010 previously implemented. Adopt the new carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) medical treatment guidelines (MTG) as the ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Our Journey Forward on Occupational Medical Care - Workers ...

Nov 09, 2012

On Tuesday, the American people expressed its support for a unified medical care program that will embrace all aspects of life, including industrial accidents and diseases. They validated, as did the Supreme Court, the ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Workers' Compensation Jeopardy: Romney and Medical Costs

Nov 01, 2012

Planned changes by Mitt Romney to Medicare and Medicaid will have a dire effect on the regulations of the future cost of workers' compensation medical treatment. Proposed changes to the Federal program will indirectly ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Workers' Compensation: Out of State Medical Treatment Allowed By ...

Jan 22, 2011

The court held that the failure of the employer/insurance carrier to provide medical care for out-of-state treatment, even though requested by the employee, was deemed a refusal of the employer to provide adequate medical ...

http://workers-compensation.blogspot.com/

Related articles

• Obesity Is Weighing Down The Workers' Compensation System
• Insurance Company Broker Caught Cooking the Books
• Why Injured Workers Should Deactivate Their Social Media Accounts
• Why Doctors Prescribe Opioids to Known Opioid Abusers - NEJM

The 6 Things You Need To Do If You Are Exposed To Mercury

Elemental mercury is a silver, odorless liquid.

Today's post comes from guest author Catherine Stanton from Pasternack Tilker Ziegler Walsh Stanton & Romano.

Irving J. Selikoff Center for Occupational & Environmental Medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine has released a guide to treatment for elemental mercury ((the pure form of the metal, when it is not combined with other chemicals) exposure. There are other forms of mercury, such as compounds found in contaminated fish, known as organic mercury and those are not covered by the guide.
Workers who experience a one-time sudden exposure to any chemical substance at work, should:

1. Gather as much information as you can about the type and amount of exposure, including labels, Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS), and the medical emergency phone number on the MSDS. 
2. If you are feeling ill, seek medical attention at an emergency department (ED) immediately. It is best if a medical toxicologist is consulted as part of your visit to the ED. They can be reached for advice about treatment by having the healthcare professional contact the Poison Control Center at 1-800-222-1222. 
3. You can call the PCC independently for recommendations as well.
4. Once the urgent situation has been taken care of, you may contact the nearest occupational health clinic in the country for recommendations and follow-up.
5. This fact sheet is not a substitute for medical care. The purpose is to direct the exposed worker to the proper medical provider. 
6. Report any exposure to your employer immediately. Complete an incident or exposure form. If none is available, write a memo informing them of the exposure incident (date, time, location, what you were doing in the area, and for how long). Keep copies and insist that documents are placed in your personnel files.

You can download a copy of the fact sheet by clicking here. It contains more information about the following topics: