I know your feelings well. It can be hard to accept the idea that it really is no one's "fault" that you got RSD in the sense that they didn't necessarily do anything "wrong" to cause RSD...but that is the truth of it.

Never the less...I agree 100% that the doctor should not speak to you that way. I had a similar situation after I got a lumbar sympathetic block that ended up causing my RSD to spread instead of making it better. These things happen and I did not blame the doctor for it happening, only wanted treatment for the resulting spread. Immediately when my condition got worse the doctor basically threw his hands up and said he couldn't do anything for me and that he hadn't done anything wrong. It was so frustrating because I knew there were risks with any procedure when you have RSD.

So while the doctor didn't do anything wrong to cause the spread, he most certainly caused my more pain and my situation to get worse by refusing to treat me afterwards and trying to just pawn me off on another doctor. This started a journey of being bounced around from one doctor to the next that lasted for months and months before I found a doctor who cared more about treating me than assigning blame for the situation.

Dealing with work comp can be difficult...I hope you have a good lawyer to help you through it. If you see this same doctor again, I would try to be straight forward with him and say first that you know they didn't do anything WRONG to cause the RSD...but that the surgery caused the RSD and now you need treatment for it. Work comp will require that connection to pay for treatment. If this doctor cannot be subjective and help you move forward with treatment then it is absolutely essential that you find a doctor who can give you the treatments you need to deal with your RSD as soon as possible.

Make sure to discuss with a lawyer the process you need to follow for seeing a new doctor to ensure you will still be covered by work comp. Laws vary from state to state and it would be terrible if you were denied treatment simply because you are ignorant of the laws. And don't count on a work comp adjuster to tell you the truth...they often lie.