dazed and confused
 

hey all, have been reading all of your posts and wondering if anyone would be willing to put their two cents in to my questions regarding w/c. my injury began over 3 yrs ago and will be kind of long so sorry in advanc. first of all my inital injury consisted of rotator cuff tear and back sprain. i had rotator cuff repair, tendon debrided and bone spur shaved off right shoulder (i am also right handed) anyway, developed "frozen shoulder" shortly after surgery so had second surgery to remove scar tissue. in the year and half following second surgery i was returned to work and removed from work several times due to pain, weakness, etc. and suspected left rotator cuff tear due to overuse of left arm since i am right arm dominant. work comp refusing to pay for left shoulder because there "independant" medical examiner says it is not related. my disability benefits were subsequently terminated although i continued to see ortho doc due to persistent problems and was diagnosed with right rotator cuff impingement with secondary rsd due to initial injury. now have had emergency hearing and have had ttd benefits reinstated but they are still refusing to reimburse me the money i have already spent seeing pm, filling scripts and also refusing to pay for therapy even though these were all ordered by treating doc until i go have another "independant" medical exam which we all know how that will go. w/c is also leaning on my attorney to force me into settlement talks. my attorney doesn't think it's a good idea to settle and neither do I. i have too many problems right now and truly not able to work, i live in illinois and wonder if illinois has "open medical" allowed for settlements, my attorney told me that i can't have open medical but i don't know if i believe him? they are also refusing to pay for emg, mri and x-rays that two different pain docs and one ortho doc have ordered. also wondering if i can have money thrown in for left arm since they refuse to let me have treatment for it even thought my ortho doc states specifically due to overuse because of other arm being injured? whew, does any of this make sense:o sorry if it doesn't. it's all very confusing to me too. i swear i'm about to have a nervous breakdown, reallllllly need some xanax:eek: thanks for listening and hope to hear from any of you, thanks, jenny

Hi Jenny; It's a rough road injured workers travel on. Of course it makes sense that when one arm is injured you use your other arm more, which in turn can cause a whole lot of problems. Don't know to much about usa's laws about compensation but basically it seems that it's a fight for one's right for proper health care, and wage loss.Please try to stay strong, and keep at your lawyer. Try to take one day at a time.