? about worker's comp
 

I had a series of concussions and neck injuries at my job in California. After losing my ability to teach, or work at all, I came back to my home state in Oregon. I am on SSDI with an open worker's comp case and a lawyer who appears to roll over for WC. Since my return to Oregon I have found doctors who are actually helping

me. I have received a new diagnosis for ADD from the injuries, have paid out of pocket for the physical therapy and special glasses for my photosensitivity. My lawyer completely ignores any information from my doctors or my expenses and

everything seems to hinge on a few WC doctors who saw me for 4 hours a year ago. I find this incredulous but I can't get a response on why information from my doctors is not relevant to my case and ongoing care needs. Is this how California Worker's Comp operates or does it seem I have a lawyer who is unwilling to fight for me. And yes I have tried to talk to her about this but I get no straight answers.

Were all the injuries incurred on the job?

Often if there is a previous documented accident or injury it complicates the proving of when, what & how the on the job injury/s caused the ongoing pain & problems...

They will try to blame it on the previous injury if it was not related to the same claim/case..

For the CA atty, I don't hav eany ideas.. unless if the CA website for WC has info on how to to change attys.. after checking on the atty change info & if you can do it - perhaps if you mention that as possibility- if you don't get clear answers from them soon -that you will change..

In OR or in 2005 anyway - attys will have to share the final fee.

You need to be seeing a doctor in CA regularly until you close out your case. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you made the move without consulting with your attorney. If you need to drive or fly into No CA in order to wrap things up, I would suggest that you do so. WC will likely give you a low ball offer since you aren't utilizing your entitled health benefits. Frankly, I'm surprised any doc is willing to let you pay out of pocket for a WC injury. No doc in CA would, due to laws put in place to protect you.

If there is any chance of you being permanently disabled and not being able to work again, then you need to have SS approve your Medical portion of the settlement. This way, if you do file for SSDI, then after you exhaust your Work Injury Set Aside funds, you can use Medicare. I can't stress enough how important this is. If WC low balls the medical portion of your settlement SS will not sign off.

If you need to file for SSDI, remember to do so well before your Date Last Insured. Often this is 5 years after you stop working.

Jo Mar...yes on job injuries. It's rather complicated Lit Love and thanks for replying. I own a home in Oregon and would go the Bay area to teach during the school year. I had planned to travel and teach in different states. I came back home after being declared permanent and stationary and half dead from trying to teach a very difficult special education class while head injured. If I had stayed in the bay area I would have become homeless.

Honestly I thought once I got home and rested I would be able to work in Oregon. I thought some of my problems were due to stress. My problems did not resolve. I did apply for SSDI and got approved immediately. Medicare is paying without a whimper, probably because Oregon refuses to take California work comp cases and I have not yet received any medical settlement. My neuropysch report states I can never teach again.

So there lies my question.....should my lawyer be using the information from my Oregon doctors to obtain a fairer disability rating? For example, I was recently diagnosed with ADD from my brain injuries. I graduated grad school with a 4.1 GPA one year prior to my first injury so it's obviously not a prior condition. My lawyer is not sending this info on to anyone, nor does she seem to have any interest in it. Is that how it rolls in California?

If you're P&S than your attorney needs to set up either a QME oe an AME appointment in CA and get you a final rating. It shouldn't require more than a day's testing. If you're claiming there are issues that are not included in your claim at the time you were deemed P&S, than that's a problem--by not continuing in CA, it will not help. Did you exhaust your TTD payments (24 months I believe)?

There are WC rules and regs in place to protect you and your former employer. I doubt any medical evidence you produce from OR will be help you.

I would suggest sending a certified letter to your attorney with any of your concerns and let her know you can return to the state for a QME or an AME.

Just because Medicare hasn't figured out that they shouldn't be paying for your WC related injury, doesn't mean that they should, or that it won't become an issue when or if they figure it out.

http://www.medicare.gov/supplement-o...-payments.html