Workers Comp Help
Workplace Injury to Lower Back
I reside in California. I have an admitted CT orthopedic injury [5-98 to 5-99]; a 3-4mm disc bulge at L5-S1.
As a result of taking anti-inflammatory medications I have been hospitalized twice due to hemorrhaging.
During the September 2002 hospitalization I contracted a coagulase positive staph aureous infection which was not properly diagnosed for 7 months. Thereafter it was successfully treated with a proper course of antibiotic therapy [the 2 previous had failed].
I was quarantined for 2 weeks during the final course of antibiotic therapy. The second hospitalization was in December 2003. So my claim has been amended to include internal medical problems, including an ulcer.
The insurance carrier is Kemper. They have refused to reimburse me for mileage to and from treatment which they authorized in writing, or to reimburse me for medication expenditures, or for prescribed orthopedic devices. I am owed approximately $7,000 as a result.
The ironic thing is that I am a physician within the worker's compensation system, and a QME.