[TOLUCA123]

can you please give me some advice. 5 years ago i got hurt at work they diagnosed me with a hernieted L4-L5 disc after treatment they said said i was at a category 3 for ppd three months ago i got hurt again i have a bulging L5-S1 disc with apossible tear i have been getting treatment with pain pills and physical therapy i talked to my lni worker and he told me since i was hurt in the past in my lower back that even if i had a ppd that i was at a catergory 3 and that i am not entitled to an award im wondering if this is a difrent injury whith a difrent disc why it would not be conscider for any type of award and i do not want to hire a lawyer can you please help

[Koala77]

I hope you don't mind TOLUCA123, but I moved your post out onto a thread of it's own.

Hopefully others will see your questions now, rather than have them hidden away in some-one else's thread.

Welcome to NeuroTalk. I hope you get the answers that you seek.

[lefthanded]

Originally Posted by TOLUCA123

can you please give me some advice. 5 years ago i got hurt at work they diagnosed me with a hernieted L4-L5 disc after treatment they said said i was at a category 3 for ppd three months ago i got hurt again i have a bulging L5-S1 disc with apossible tear i have been getting treatment with pain pills and physical therapy i talked to my lni worker and he told me since i was hurt in the past in my lower back that even if i had a ppd that i was at a catergory 3 and that i am not entitled to an award im wondering if this is a difrent injury whith a difrent disc why it would not be conscider for any type of award and i do not want to hire a lawyer can you please help

Doctors use a publication known as the AMA Guides to Permanent Impairment in assigning ratings for industrial injuries. The guides are standardized so the results will be uniform:

Functionally based histories, physical findings and broadly accepted objective clinical test results are integrated where applicable to help physicians determine the grade within the impairment class. The result is a decision that is both transparent and reproducible.
https://catalog.ama-assn.org/Catalog...tId=prod920005

The category rating is a way of translating the degree, or percentage, of impairment based on the findings of the permanent impairment evaluation. If a new evaluation after your second injury did not find a significant increase in the objective criteria for the Category 3 rating, your rating would not change.

I found this chart that may help illustrate how the categories are broken down (however I am unsure of which edition of the guide this came from): http://www.chirogeek.com/005_DRE_Rating_Charts.htm

If you feel that your disability should be greater than found on examination there may be a few steps you can take to challenge and/or verify the data:
• You may request or obtain a second opinion impairment exam.
• You may request a comprehensive functional capacity evaluation done by a certified physicaL therapist whose results are reproducible.

A simple way to describe how disability may not be increased after a second accident is to use a broken arm as an example. In 2000 you broke your arm and it resulted in a 25% permanent disability. In 2009 you broke that same arm. You have already received 25% disability, so in order to receive more disability your arm must be impaired at least 26% or more, and you would only receive the difference between the two ratings, in this example, 1%. So even if you were to obtain a new Category 4 rating, you would only receive benefits for the difference between Cat 3 and Cat 4.

I hope that helps.

[tshadow]

noTHING against Left, but her advice is too hard for your question, and your situation is fraught with pitfalls. You've had multiple injuries at different times and may even have different insurance companies during relevant periods. NONE of this can be done by yourself. By Monday, get 2 FREE consultations by work comp attorneys who do only work comp.

DO IT. It may save your skin.

My friend's husband made fun of me, and he almost lost $500K because of his chauvinism. He still hasn't thanked me...some flowers would've been nice.

Please folks, if an attorney gives you free advice (and I am NOT saying me) but out in the world, at least give them a card after the dust settles. Let them know how it finished. No one ever gave me that courtesy, and I know I helped hundreds...we need to become a polite society again.

God bless. Don't think about it, just get those consults.