The Work Comp Doctor Won’t Listen When I Mention My Other Injuries!
Many workers’ compensation callers express the same frustration — The treating doctor is only treating one of my injuries while ignoring the others. I hear some version of this frustration every week. It’s common. Today, we’ll discuss a couple reasons why it occurs.
Here’s an example of what often happens — You suffer a serious work-related accident. For one recent client, it was a fall from a ladder. You hurt several different body parts in the accident. However, one of those body parts may initially appear to be the most injured. In my ladder example, the worker fell. He injured both knees, his hips and his back. However, one knee was really swollen, badly swollen. He could not put any weight on it. So, that’s the injured body part work comp focused on treating to the exclusion of the others. It’s wrong. That worker is entitled to care for all his work-related injuries.
Often, the employer only lists the most pressing injury in its written report. If you work around Huntsville, the employer is likely to send you for medical care initially to Occupational Health Group (OHG). When you go to OHG, those doctors are only listing or looking at the one body part. When the OHG doctor finally refers you to an orthopedic, it’s just for the one body part. In my example involving the worker who fell from a ladder, the orthopedic only saw him for his swollen knee.