[Rattie]

I was told to go to a 2nd opinion doctor. He totally blew away my neurological doctors findings. Now I have pain down both shoulders, cervogenic headache, DDD of low back and neck. Two surgeries on left shoulder; doctor is bow saying will need to be replaced. Now workers comp is denying fusion of C4/C5 and low back pain stim unit. I have tried to work through it all and now I am missing days of work and feel like they are trying to get me to quit. Any ideas on how to get the 2nd opinion workup thrown out? He is going against a top neuro surgeon and top shoulder doctor.

[Rattie]

I do have good doctors. But they get frustrated with the amount of work they have to do extra for one patient. I just hired am attorney, but nothing yet. My back is so touchy that physical therapy injured me again and started severe muscle spasms from neck to low back. Now i wake up every day sick to my stomach and don't know why and my Fibromyalgia is off the charts bad. For some reason it appears I am having an attack of arthritis. In my hands and wrists, elbows etc. Something I have not had before. Can stress and injury cause arthritis to become severe? I work for the federal government and it is a disgrace what WC does. I was getting treated, I had 3 surgeries last year and neck fusion was also planned. Then they denied and told me they wanted a 2nd opinion. Who wasn't even a back specialist and didn't treat in his practice. No kidding he didn't even touch my neck to feel the constant spasms. He just denied and I have been getting worse for months. The surgery was requested in April. Second opinion wasn't until end of July. He didnt respond for a month. They made me travel 140 miles for the appointment. I honestly wondered if he was hand picked to deny. Like there is no doctors closer to where I live! In UT. Give me a break. Yea something really does need to be done to assist workers.

[Jomar]

Ratti's previous posts were copied over from the new member forum.

How did you get injured, what kind of work are you doing?

Did you have any pre existing health issues before the injury?

[Rattie]

I did have DDD. But had no treatment for months even more than a year. Never had neck injury. I was injured during travel status, in a hotel. We were locked down due to hurricane and erroneous arlarm sent me down wet stairwell; during what was considered working hours. I work for the government and even the attorney told me they are WC worse than the state.

After 2nd opinion he told WC I had pre-existing condition on my neck. Only problem is; my neck has never been treated before. No shots or nerve ablation until after the accident. Now i also have chronic migraine headaches and radiating pain down shoulders caused by herniated C4/C5 disc.

And no kidding, he never touched my back or neck. Only played with the shoulder who had reached MMI. And left knee tht had arthritis, but now needs to be replaced and since all were aggravation or new injuries. All should be covered; at least that is what their site is says.

Go back to nuero doctor on Friday; because I hurt my back doing physical therapy. That is what 2nd opinion wanted; even though my doctor said only water therapy.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am going to apply form fmla for now. At least until I get something from my doctors recommending that I apply for medical retirement.

I also suffer from Fibromyalgia. And it has escalated to unbearable.

[LIT LOVE]

I'm only familiar with CA WC. Has your doc discussed changing your work status? In CA it's called Temporary Total Disability.

It's pretty standard for WC docs in CA to report whatever is helpful for the insurance co. They're hired guns and rarely care about the health of injured workers. But every state's system is different.

I'd suggest researching applying for SSDI as well, if your prognosis for continuing to work poor. Start with the stickies in the SSD forum.

[Jomar]

Did you fall down in the stairwell or just going down it normally you got injured?

IME -
a good wc atty will be able to point out the false reports & errors by the IME. you may have to help the atty find the mistakes and "lies"
usually get a copy of the reports and make a notation with the correct info.
then give to atty so they see what the issues are.

the tricky part is proving this happened as you say, was there any witnesses?
also proof that any pre existing is now much worse due to injury.

mums the word , don't share anything about this with co workers or management.
follow any restrictions by the dr


like no treatment was needed before this injury
aggravation of fibro due to this injury
aggravation of arthritis etc
- records for past Drs appts & checkups for proof & time line

I wonder if there would be anything worth looking into the erroneous alarm by the hotel/motel? and a wet slippery stairwell?

Maybe a slip & fall suit would be simpler than WC- if the hotel/motel was at all at fault.
perhaps both? I don't know how that all works...