Orthopedic Injuries Workers Comp Claims
The bones, muscles, and soft tissues of the human body are very prone to injury. Many employers understand this concept, and happily pay their workers’ compensation premiums. I once heard an employer tell me that workers comp insurance was the best investment he had made for his businesses, and expected many of his workers to file workers comp claims because of the type of work he required them to do. A majority of workers’ compensation cases involve physical (or orthopedic, to some extent) injuries. That is, the injured worker hurt his back lifting, or had his foot crushed by an object, and so on.
These workers comp injuries generally have a workers comp settlement value. It is very difficult to ascertain the value without understanding all of the particulars of a case. It would be unwise to say that every workers comp knee injury is worth $30,000.00, or anything to that extent. One can estimate the value of a physical workers comp injury for settlement, but that takes into account all the particular benefits the injured worker is or will be entitled to.
One very important aspect is that many physicians are not trained to deal with finer orthopedic injuries due to work trauma and workers comp. You need to ensure, for certain types of injuries, that your workers comp doctor is adequately trained and experienced to deal with your type of injury. Surely, a general practitioner will lack the same experience as an orthopedic surgeon. Generally, for soft-tissue type injuries, sports medicine physicians and those who deal with these injuries are better equipped to help the injured worker make a speedy recovery.
Most of the time, the employer sends the injured workers to health clinics, who many times, wont listen to or touch the patient. It seems as if many of these clinics only have one goal, to defeat the workers’ comp claim and return the injured worker back to work as soon as possible.