Posted: 8/11/2014 11:58:08 AM EDT
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Backstory-work for the VA, hurt my left shoulder over a month ago (I had a previous surgery on it in 2005) on a weekend (Sunday), but it didn't start hurting until that evening, and I didn't go back to work until Wednesday. We were super busy on Wed/Thurs so I did not go down to employee health to get checked out. This shoulder was at 100% before this incident. I went to my personal Ortho doc last Tuesday and he said that its torn most likely. Gave me a celestone shot and PT orders and said we will MRI it if it gets worse. I did tell my coworkers/manager the week it got injured.
Fast Forward-I tore my bicep on the same side last Friday. Just got into ortho today, he said yes its torn and the shoulder injury is 80%+ likely to be the cause of the bicep injury. I have to do an MRI tom/wed and he said he will probably do surgery on both at the same time, depending on what the MRI says. I work out a lot and he was unable to fully assess the function due to muscle mass. My question is this: Even though I am a month+ out on the initial injury, could I still claim it at this point? |
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Quoted:
Backstory-work for the VA, hurt my left shoulder over a month ago (I had a previous surgery on it in 2005) on a weekend (Sunday), but it didn't start hurting until that evening, and I didn't go back to work until Wednesday. We were super busy on Wed/Thurs so I did not go down to employee health to get checked out. This shoulder was at 100% before this incident. I went to my personal Ortho doc last Tuesday and he said that its torn most likely. Gave me a celestone shot and PT orders and said we will MRI it if it gets worse. I did tell my coworkers/manager the week it got injured. Fast Forward-I tore my bicep on the same side last Friday. Just got into ortho today, he said yes its torn and the shoulder injury is 80%+ likely to be the cause of the bicep injury. I have to do an MRI tom/wed and he said he will probably do surgery on both at the same time, depending on what the MRI says. I work out a lot and he was unable to fully assess the function due to muscle mass. My question is this: Even though I am a month+ out on the initial injury, could I still claim it at this point? I must be missing something? |
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Im out on comp right now. Fell into a mechanical shaft on April fools day and got busted up horribly. I was medivaced immediately to a hospital. 5 hour surgery 15 screws and some metal plates to bolt me back together. Comp only pays 66% of your salary so that sucks and Im losing my mind not working yet. Looks like ill go back on limited on Sept 7 or so
I imagine if the injury was documented from work it wouldnt be an issue but workmens comp insurance carriers are some real sons of bitches about paying. I also had rotator cuff surgery years ago and wouldnt wish that post op on my worst enemy. I hope yours goes far better than mine did. Good luck |
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That depends on how long you have to file a claim. Further, the fact you chose to wait so long report it and you have a previous injury is going to make for a fun time for you. I would contact your supervisor RIGHT NOW and get the ball rolling. Don't expect them to be happy you chose to wait so long either. Frankly, I'm surprised your regular doc even saw you once you told him it was work related. ETA: I just saw you did tell your boss. What exactly did you tell him/her?
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| When did you report it to your chain of command, in writing? Going to your personal doc may or may not be an issue. At least here (university) you're supposed to report ASAP and go to the worker's comp doc. Failure to do so will result in much grief, delays and just general ass-hattedness. WC hates to pay. They will deny anything they possibly can. It is not a pleasant experience. |
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Quoted:
ETA: I just saw you did tell your boss. What exactly did you tell him/her? This. Did you just tell him/her or was it documented? That's why we went to the hospital immediately for any injury at work and filled out an injury report. We didn't go through worker's comp and if it wasn't documented it never happened. The department would fight you tooth and nail if you tried reporting something even a day later. |
| Did you file a CA-1? I got my back jacked up on the job but waited quite a long time to claim the injury, as in a year or so, hoping I could just get better on my own. When that didn't happen I had to re-do the CA-1 paperwork and have my boss fill out the witness section since he saw it. Unfortunately OWCP denied my claim because I could not send them any documentation from my doc (he went out of business in the interim and all records were sent somewhere to an archive and I couldn't get them). Had I been able to get documentation, they would have likely processed it. Now I'm stuck with some real fun back spasms. If you have not done so, get on the paperwork now as OWCP wont lift a finger to help unless all your ducks are in the proverbial row. |
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Not an expert. But we had a guy hurt his back on a Friday. Didn't tell anyone. Just went home. Comes in Monday and says he hurt his back Friday. Company policy is that you have to immediately report any injury - take drug test - ect. Which he did none of.
Two years later he's still trying to sue. YMMV |
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If you convince the doc/nurse or whoever that you did it on the job, then probably.
My experience with workmans comp sucked. The company I worked for had a "company nurse" that was 800 miles away. She diagnosed my broken foot over the phone as a sprain. Went to the ER for X-rays and cat scan. The ER sucked (thus why it is now closed). They put my plaster wrap backwards (rough side towards skin, soft side out), and made me hold my foot in place with a bed sheet for 30 minutes, alone, by myself. Foot was broken in 2 places with all metatarsals dislocated. Workers comp took forever. They wanted me to travel over 2 hours to a doctor that takes workers comp because they thought it was the closest (closest was 30 minutes away). It took a lot make them change their minds on where I need to go. It took a month before I could have sergery on my foot. |
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Quoted:
Not an expert. But we had a guy hurt his back on a Friday. Didn't tell anyone. Just went home. Comes in Monday and says he hurt his back Friday. Company policy is that you have to immediately report any injury - take drug test - ect. Which he did none of. Two years later he's still trying to sue. YMMV Yep! But, TN law is probably different than LA law, especially since TN has had some serious changes over the last few years, especially due to reform with our WC. But, you are right, waiting does not help especially when the insurance company gets ahold of it. |
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Quoted:
Not an expert. But we had a guy hurt his back on a Friday. Didn't tell anyone. Just went home. Comes in Monday and says he hurt his back Friday. Company policy is that you have to immediately report any injury - take drug test - ect. Which he did none of. Two years later he's still trying to sue. YMMV I'm surprised they didn't just sign him up. That's what my company has done the two times a similar situation has happened here even though we have the same policy. I guess they think it's better to suck it up and pay the guys doctor bills rather than take a chance of getting sued. 
ETA: OP I'm reading your post correctly and you hurt your shoulder while working on Sunday which later caused the torn bicep I would think you be eligible for worker's comp. But that's not really my area so take that for what it's worth. |
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Thanks for all of the replies! So, I have had previous injuries on both shoulders, both repaired and both were having zero problems before this. I work in the ICU of a VA facility, so that is why it was on a Sunday. I did tell my fellow employees the day it happened. The following week, I told my manager verbally, not in writing.
I consider myself a badass and am 26, therefore my somewhat invincible body would regenerate connective tissue and repair the injury  . I honestly thought it would be OK and nothing long term, so I never went any further. Rather than going to our employee health doc, I figured it would be easier to just go see my doc. Obviously I figured out that my body in fact is not invincible and that it was worse than I thought. I then figured that it was too late to do any workman's comp.
My doc does believe that the incident at work is what caused the injury, but there is no proof or camera footage to prove it. I can pretty easily go back and figure out when it happened btw. Anyway, I will look at that LA data as soon as I get off this reply, appreciate it! So I start my doctorate program in August of next year. I have enough sick time to cover this, and I will just eat the sick time when I leave as they do not cut a check for that. I am not going to go the attorney route and would rather suck it up if thats what it comes to, but I appreciate the info about them costing nothing initially. It sounds like I would lose quite a bit of money if I went that way already, but on the other hand taking 6 weeks of sick pay will cut my pay 15% in differentials. Also, I like to online shop so that is another problem if I am in front of a computer for 6 weeks. Either way, I won't freak out until the MRI results. I do have a accidental injury policy on myself as I am a magnet for weird shit that hurts, so insurance will cover 100% of this bicep thing, and my doc said he can work with them about the shoulder surgery as well. EDIT: LSUTigerFan, thanks for the info. I love how there is an expert for everything on this site! |