Quote:
Originally Posted by Jo*mar
My claim was Repetitive strain injury, and after the wc denied it per IME, my atty wrote a letter to my PT & drs saying some thing to the effect that my case is ongoing and the treatment can still be provided and bills were put on hold until the hearing/close of claim.
I did have to provide a secondary ins , just in case, but is was not billed.
Everything billable was put on hold & I still got my PT and drs appts.
That was in Oregon and 2003-2005 so it may depend on state & situations..things may be different now..
Oh and it went to hearing , but they asked to negotiate right before the hearing..my atty had blown a disk & was in pain, so wasn't feeling up for a fight, and he said I might be better off taking the settlement.. plus I felt some errors were made by his office, they deposed the wrong dr, not the one that had been seeing me for the whole time..so I took the settlement..
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I ended up taking a settlement too...for similar reasons...but the biggest one was lack of confidence in my attorney at a certain point. Even with that...I settled on MY terms, got about $20K more than my attorney was pushing me to settle for (any wonder why I lacked confidence in him...good thing my stubbornness got him an extra $4K...), and got the peace of mind for MYSELF that it was over.
That said...my situation was not the same as other people's and I would never encourage anyone to take a settlement with CRPS. I chose to get off of all meds and no longer see a pain specialist because I don't feel there's anything they can offer me at this point given the choices I have made regarding my own treatment. Ongoing medical bills, inability to work, lack of insurance...these are all very good reasons NOT to settle...at least not any time soon.
We all have to make our own decisions about what is right for us when it comes to taking a settlement...but the key really is not to let anyone (whether WC or your own attorney) bully you into it and you should never make the decision out of desperation (THAT is what WC is going for). It's a really hard thing to do and you need a good support system...people you can trust to bounce your thought off of who can help you weigh the risks/benefits of taking a settlement and for what amount.