Workers Comp Help
Back Injury From Heavy Construction Job
I am a 49 year old male that has worked heavy construction all of my life as an operator and mechanic/welder. In August of 1999 I was operating a machine that winched a plow that installed fiber optics cables 4 to 5 deep. The fiber optic plow hung up on a rock rib causing my machine to be jerked airborne about 12 feet high, and the rock rib broke causing me to drop and bottom out the operators seat fracturing the L-1 vert. and bulging the L-4&5 disc.
I was taken by a fire dept aid car to the emergency room for treatment. I tried to work for another year until the back pain and leg/feet numbness became overwhelming. I filed a claim and sought medical treatment. The first doctor I was seen by said the damage to my back was to severe for him to treat, and recommended I make an appointment to see a neurosurgeon. After about six months of collection agents attempting collections and threatening court actions, I had the medical providers and radiology company's direct bill my self insured employer.
Another couple of months went by, and several letters to my employer later, The claims management company's "Cost Containment Division" contacted me and started time-loss payments. The medical billing nightmare's lessened but didn't go away. Prescription medication services were another headache to endure, but thanks to my union medical coverage we got by until the claims company approved the medication.
They sent me to one of their hand picked IME doctors in Lake Oswego Oregon, and I use the term "doctors" in the most loosest form, as they were nothing more than medical prostitutes selling examination reports to favor claim management companies. In an exam that lasted 30 minutes, including 15 min. of waiting room time, they concluded that the 60% bone mass loss of my L-1 vert. was not a hindrance to my work, and the bulged disc at L-4&5 was not a work related injury but one of age only. Their report contained examination findings of a non-existing shoulder injury and corrective surgery to my surprise. Their exam findings w
I then turned to the State of Oregon for help. But my additional case work load was not welcomed by the state workers and an order was issued on my claim that put it into, what attorney's called was, "Legal Limbo". I have written letters and phoned the numerous state agencies in an attempt to be heard, but only to find it has fallen on deaf ears. I wrote the Governor a letter of complaint, and his office ordered vocational rehab services, that to date have been nothing more than a joke, to surface comply with the Governor's directives and Oregon state law.
So, now I join hundreds of injured workers that have found out that the term of having "Insurance" coverage for an industrial injury is just a term and nothing more. My misconception of insurance for injured worker's was one of to be made whole as if the traumatic event had never happened, like the coverage I carry to protect my automobile in the event of a crash resulting in damage. Boy was I wrong, and the Claims Management corporations keep getting rich off of the backs of injured worker's. Not to mention all of the state worker's making a living off of the injured worker's claims!