I am writing a letter to Governor Schwarzenegger about my Workman's comp. case and submitting it to an Aide that works on labor issues. I am doing this to let the Governor know about all of the difficulties I have had over the last 4 years; in receiving the diagnostics needed to diagnose and determine the extent of my injury as well as receive consistent care. I am also letting him know that my Attorney resigned form my case as he felt it was too much work and that he wouldn't be adequately compensated. I have a deposition coming up and was told by an aid at the Workers comp. office that I need to be represented by an Attorney. I have called 5 Attorney's so far and they have all turned me down for the same reason.

I told the Governor's Aide about the forum and some of the horror stories I've read here and she would like (if anyone is willing to share) to give him that information as well.

If you want, you can put anything you would like to tell the Governor on this thread. Or if you want to maintain your privacy, you can p.m. me, and I will copy and paste your message to send to him.

I will be sending this information to him next Monday, so that will give anyone who wants to participate almost a week to contribute something.

Thanks You Guys,
G ~

Hi,

I've been out of it for several days.

But, I want to write "my story" also for Governor Terminator! I live in Calif & have a work comp case close to settling. But they don't want to give me meds or PM doc, just future "Ortho doc".

I'll get it to you ASAP! Thanks!

Denise

HIP HIP HORRAH For you Gromlily!!! It is time that the people of this country (In ALL States) write about the terrible condition that the Workers Compensation system is in. I wrote many of my representatives just last night regarding issues we are dealing with here in Wisconsin.

My best wishes to you and I hope you get your point across and something is actually done about it. NO ONE Should have to live the way we (patients AND family members) are FORCED to live.

Dear Gromlily -

I speak as a California attorney now on “voluntary inactive status” due to my RSD. However, because I have taken inactive status, I neither am required to take continuing education classes, nor am I able to give any form of legal advice, so please consider what follows to be more "political science" than anything else.

Essentially, the present crisis was the product of a couple of deals. The first, part of the deal gave employees guaranteed protection from financial ruin arising out of disabling injuries incurred at work, through the medical services and long-term income support paid for by insurance which the state's employers were required to buy. In return, employers received protection/immunity from any claims of negligence arising from on the job injuries. Workers' compensation laws were enacted to make litigation less costly for both sides and to eliminate the need for injured workers to prove their injuries were the employer's “fault.” (The first state law was passed in Maryland in 1902, and the first law covering federal employees was passed in 1906. By 1949, all states had enacted some kind of workers' compensation regime.)

Now fast-forward maybe 80 years and the “bankruptcy” of the California worker’s comp. system, brought about largely by specialized “industrial medicine” clinics which didn’t bat an eye about putting anyone who walked the door on 5 years of PT. Anyhow, after an initial series of reforms forced most of these bad actors out of the system, the insurance carriers had no incentive to reduce their rates, because they were making profits for the first time in quite a while. And workers comp. insurance in California continued to be unbelievably expensive.

Into this situation walks The Terminator, who uses his political capital – then at it’s zenith – to force a “reform” aimed solely a limiting benefits, and along the way specifies two conditions, RSD and fibromyalgia, on which no claims will ever be paid because some claimants and their docs had gotten good at faking injuries and there often wasn’t any “objective medical evidence” in support of the claims, notwithstanding the fact that many people with RSD could present absolutely uncontroverted evidence pointing uniquely to a diagnosis of RSD. (As in please, don’t confuse me with the facts.)

Here’s where I throw something out for anyone who was injured on the job to raise with your attorney: consider suing your (former) employer for negligence (if in fact the employere was negligent in allowing an unsafe condition to exist at the work place) on the theory that the statute granting immunity to employers for work related injuries is an unconstitutional “taking” in violation of the 5th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, where, thanks to the later-day reform of workers comp. no remedy whatsoever exists for an injured worker who develops RSD. Hence, there is a “taking” of property (your right to be made whole) without “just compensation.”

Three words of warning are, however, in order:

(1) I have yet to hear of any court in California adopting such a theory, although I don’t know how many times people have tried to raise it, and frankly I done any legal research on the question either;

(2) Worker’s comp. lawyers are not, by nature, the most creative of folk, adept at fashioning new remedies - their mantra is VOLUME, VOLUME, VOLUME - nor is the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board known for its level of intellectual engagement; and

(3) Personal injury negligence claims are lawsuits with a relatively short statute of limitations, usually 1 year from the date of the initial injury.

All of which suggest to me that the people with the best chance of doing something about the situation are those folks who are able to interest an aggressive P.I. lawyer to pursue a lawsuit against an employer, within one year of the date of the initial injury. Short of that, there may be a worker's comp. lawyer out there willing to challenge the statutory exclusion of RSD from covered conditions, but that lawyer would probably have to wade through years of unproductive appeals before s/he could finally be in front of a court which could hear the constitutional challenge by way of what is called "administrative mandamus" of the Workers' Compensation Appeals Board decision. (This could explain some of the difficulties you have had retaining/obtaining representation on your claim.)

Bottom line: I think the only realistic place for finding a sympathetic ear is in the California Courts of Appeal on a constitutional claim. Especially where our legislature is one giant brothel, open 24/7 to the highest bidder. That, or maybe, just maybe, you're right and Arnold can be made to see the error of his ways. One can only hope.

So may the Force be with you.

Mike

Thanks so much for responding! Wow Mike, I am so grateful for all the information you provided. I have to say I am a bit discouraged that I didn't receive some of this news sooner as I am beginning my 5 th year of recovery from my injury; however, I am not one that gives up all that easily!! So I will see what, if anything, I can do regarding these issues.

It sounds like re: my case, I don't want to acknowledge the RSD I seem to be developing, but keep my focus on the TOS instead.

However, I want to continue to at least try and make it known to the Governor as well as anyone else who will listen what disabled workers are having to endure.

Denise, thanks for your interest in being a part of this. I'm sorry for my delay in responding to you, I've been scrambling to get a new attorney and had a QME yesterday so I haven't been at this forum for the last few days. I will p.m. you my e-mail address.

HWR... You are a doll, your hubby is very blessed to have you in his corner!!

Thanks again!!
G~

Hey - Thought I should add as I know there are some here that are dealing with WC issues - One thing that drove us nuts - when one is dealing with WC insurance companies is that they send along their QSR's, QRC's - (what ever / how ever your state abbreviates/calls them) - Ya know the jokers that follow you around to your Dr appoint's, call you and drive you nutz and such....

Be sure to check your state laws regarding them....There are some states (Wisconsin is one of them) where you can tell them to take a hike. In Wisconsin we do not have to deal with them if we dont want to. If you've got one thats being sneaky, underhanded, telling lies, or just plain bugging the heck out of you - you may not have to deal with them...Again, check your state laws regarding them.

Just a heads up!

Thanks HDR, for sharing that.

Also, I am extending the time for submitting your story to Friday the 2nd.

I need more time to get things in order, and am hoping for more people to contribute. It doesn't have to be much, just a paragraph if you want about your negative experiences, or if you want to start a thread here to submit, just to make it easy, we could do that.

Thanks Everyone!
G~