Don't Agree With Your Employer's Workers' Comp Doctors? Get A Lawyer
If you're injured on the job and see your employer's workers' compensation doctors for care, you expect a favorable outcome for your case. But if the doctors don't think that you sustained serious injuries and need time off from work, contact a workers' comp lawyer right away. A workers' compensation attorney can send you to independent doctors who thoroughly examine your injuries without bias. The doctors also provide your lawyer with extensive evidence of your injuries, including X-rays and blood workup. Here's what you can expect when you see your attorney's workers' compensation doctors.
Unbiased Opinions
Although it doesn't happen with every employer-based workers' comp doctor, some physicians cut corners during employee exams to save insurance companies money. The physicians may also leave out pertinent exams, such as CT and bone scans that employees need to prove the extent of their injuries. If your employer's doctors don't perform the necessary diagnostic exams, it places you at risk for serious health complications.
Your workers' comp attorney works with physicians who use many types of diagnostic tools during your exam, especially if you received internal injuries in your head and abdomen. Problems, such as a damaged spleen or a perforated lung, increase your risks for internal bleeding, breathing problems or worst.
Once the lawyer's doctors complete your exam, they give the attorney data to place in your case file. The data backs up your claim of extensive injuries and pain.
Viable Evidence
Submitting the independent doctors' medical forms and documentation to your employer's insurance company won't be easy. The insurance company may try to discard the information or disprove it by using their doctors' original opinions and assessments of your injuries. However, your workers' comp lawyer can overcome issues like these by taking your case to court if needed.
In most cases, you receive your compensation because it may cost the insurance company more money to go to court than it would if they settled with your workers' compensation attorney.
You receive your workers' compensation until the independent doctors clear your health. In addition, the independent doctors may suggest that you change your current position at work because your injuries no longer allow you to perform the same duties.
If your employer refuses to change or reassign your duties when you return to work, contact your workers' compensation lawyer for help. The attorney may need to obtain additional medical evidence from your independent doctors.
Don't fight your employer's workers' compensation doctors alone. Contact an attorney and take the steps needed to receive your compensation today.
For more information, contact Crowley Ahlers & Roth Co LPA or a similar firm.