Bad Rug! Please say prayers and send Pixie Dust for my Best Friend!

[2MuchOhana]

My best friend is going through a really tough time right now.
She is on the verge of losing her place to live, her car, and everything else. At least the things she hasn't already sold.

In January she was injured at work. She was working in the furniture department at one of the local retail chains. She tripped and fell over an area rug and hit her knee on a stone coffe table and landed full force on her back. When the doctor recommended that she see a specialist is when things got ugly. The insurance company refused to allow her to have the MRI done on her back. In March they stripped her of all her Workman's Comp. benefits, too. She is single and has had no income since that time. She has gone to court once; but the company's lawyer did not show up. So, the judge ordered there be a continuence (sp). She thought it was suppose to only be 30 days; which would have had her going back to court in late June or early July. She has yet to go to court. Her lawyer said it wouldn't be until October; but would try to move it up into early September. She lives in constant pain. A nice chiropractor took a free xray of her back. It showed some severe damage. Her spine is now curved because she was unable to get timely and proper treatment.

In order to survive she has had to take out several "high" interest loans. There are not a lot of places that offer assistance for those with disputes with Workman's Comp. With no income coming in now she is unable to repay them. She had to use her car as collateral for one of them. So they are threatening to take it away at the end of this week. I learned that today.

My husband and I gave her money last month to help keep her home. This month we will help her by giving/loaning her money so she doesn't lose her car and something towards her rent. We are by no means wealthy people; but we do what we can to help those in need and in times of crisis. Unfortunately, we won't be able to continue to give or loan her money each month. We are not talking chump change here. We want to help; but feel like all we can do is offer a little band aid to a large wound.

Today she received a letter stating that she had been fired by this store. Unreal! I pray that she gets a settlement soon. She is not a "sue" happy person. All she really wanted was to be treated for her injuries; and to live without pain. Now I hope she can take them to the cleaners!

Please say a prayer for her and send some Pixie Dust her way. I keep telling her things can only get better; yet somehow they keep getting worse.

Thanks for listening! I can't sleep tonight and I am really worried about my best friend.

 

[mamajoan]

sorry to hear of your friends injury..

I have a few ?'s

1. How can the work comp deny her the MRI if ordered for Dx by Doc8?
2. Why was she stripped of work comp benefits?
3. What state is this occuring in?.. as different states have different laws.
4. Why is the lawyer not pursuing her benefits? Back injuries are tricky.. and highly ?'d by work comp... but if she followed the companies policy for reporting an injury while at work, followed the directives of the Doc.. and the Doc finds her unable to work then her benefits should be intact.
5. The Lawyer also should be able to be asked to be put on an earlier docket... as soon as possible for both parties. Pressure should be on the lawyer to get moving for this woman. Why did he not ask for her benefits to be reinstated at the first court date??
6...Why was she denied treatment? If the injury was reported, diagnosed by MD and treatment ordered... why was it denied?
7. Has she been asked to see the WORK COMP DOC?
8. Has she been compliant with meds, treatments, Doc visits, paperwork requests?
9. What reason was given for her dismissal? Will the lawyer contact your state labor board if she was unfairly dismissed?
10. I take it she is unable to work due to the pain... I am not sure if she can rec'v unemployment if she is involved in a workmans comp. dispute.. but that may be something to look into.

I have been on both ends of work comp...(providing and rec'ing services) each state is different in how it treats its work comp cases. Sometimes people get lost in the system, which is sad.
It seems odd that since she injured herself in January that she would have her work comp benefits rapidly discontinued. The reason I asked the above ?'s was to find out if she had been thru all the steps....Someone missed a step somewhere.... hopefully the lawyer will be able to get things together for her.

 

[2MuchOhana]

I will try to answer the questions as best I can.

When she fell at work they insisted that she go to the doctor immediately. So she did knowing that if she had broken a bone that it would not show up immediately. She was being treated for a knee injury at first and not a back related injury. The doctor whom she was seeing discovered that due to her fall she may have also suffered a serious back injury due to the pain she was experiencing. Something that was also suggested to her by the physical therapist. X-rays have shown that due to the force and nature of the fall that two of her vertib(sp) were now sitting on top of one another. Her good side is compensating for the bad. Thus her spine is curving.

Her doctor wanted to send her to a specialist who ordered the MRI. I don't know why the company's insurance or workman's comp did not allow for the testing to be done. Which at the time was all she wanted.

She lives and works in the state of IL.

When the lawyer for the company did not show up at court they were given the continuence. (sp). Usually they see the case again within a month or so. However the mediator or who ever it is I forgot the name or term for her case was going to be on vacation for the month of August. Unfortunately, we are dealing with a court system that is over loaded with cases. They have an entire floor of the courthouse dedicated to nothing but workman's comp issues. Most people can't afford to wait that long and usually give up the claim all together. Which is why the company lawyers did not show up the first time. If she could have afforded to have the MRI done out of pocket she would have. But since helping her daughter get on her feet after her divorce she wasn't in the position to do so.

She has followed every guideline given to her by her employee handbook. She has followed every instruction her doctor has given her. How they can deny her the MRI or her benefits I don't know.

All she wanted was to be healthy again so she could work. She is not a lazy person. She has never had a history of back problems and in fact she was a very fit person up until her accident.

Her doctor has not released her to go back to work due to her injury.

They stated the reason for her dismal as her having been gone longer than the appropriate amount of time for medical leave.

She has a call into her lawyer who will hopefully get things going again now that he is back from vacation.

I think the sad fact of the matter is that some companies will try to drag it out so long that people just give up because they have to out of necessity. Her lawyer tells her it is all just a formality that she should get a settlement. The question remains how long will she have to wait?

I pray it won't be much longer. This has alreadty started stripping her of her self worth and dignity.

Thanks for showing an interest!

 

[mommytotwo]

Hope things work out for your friend and she gets the medical attention she needs.

 

[mamajoan]

It is a ploy of work comp insurance companies to drag things out so that the injured party will "give up"... which is really bad for those who are seriously injured.

I am so glad that your friend was getting proper medical treatment. Hopefully, she has a calendar or other record with all phone calls made to work comp. Also copies of everything and anything she has in correspondence with them. The work comp judge will look for these things. A clear plan of treatment from the current Doc and PT will be needed so that the lawyer can tell the judge exactly what she needs...
Please have her submit the copy of Denial of Work Comp benefits. The judge should be able to rule on whether this is just... if not the lawyer needs to ask for back pay for the entire time. He should also be able to ask the ins. company about the denial of procedures such as the MRI... I would think the judge would order that her benefits including medical coverage for the injury begin immediately. I don't know why the Work Comp company didn't do their usual.. "You have to see one of OUR Docs" demands.... usually they toss that in to try to negate further treatment and procedures.
Hopefully she will press her lawyer asap to get them onto an earlier docket... if the ins. company does not show up again.. the judge should be able to get her benefits started again. Which would be helpful, I am sure.

Of all the work comp patients I treated.. I would say only a handful are jerks who want to get away with something and abuse the system. Most people are hard working folks, who want to be 100% and return to their jobs.

Hope she gets some justice.. and soon! Best wishes go out to her!

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Hmmm, is this a case where one of those investigative reporters would help things along? Legal experts, tell me if it would make things worse, I'm just a humble teacher but I don't mind stirring things up.
Robin M.

 

[2MuchOhana]

It's sad that over half the people the court system give up their claims because they can't afford to be out of work forever.

If that would have been you or I as a customer they would have been bending over backwards to settle things fast. Since she was an employee they are trying to deny her treatment; and dragging things out in hopes she would just give up. They know her circumstances. I imagine they are quit shocked that she hasn't just gone away. For her this has never been about the money. She only wants to get better; and enjoy her quality of life.

Right now we are just doing whatever we can to make sure she has a place to live. She only has the one car which is her and her daughter's only means of transportation. I can't let them take away her Jeep for an $800 loan.

Her daughter has suggested she contact one of the local TV stations to help plead her case. I hope she will consider it.

Please keep her in your prayers. I will keep you posted.

Thanks,
Jodi