A caller the other day had been hurt when he slipped on a wet floor at his place of employment. He injured his knee, went to the doctor and has a prescription for a MRI. The doctor suspects that he has a torn meniscus.
He called me because the insurance company will not approve the clearly needed MRI. The insurance adjuster told him that he has to give a recorded statement before anything else is approved and that if he doesn’t give one they will not approve ANY treatment. So I was called and asked, “Should I give a recorded statement?”
That answer is a big, fat NO. Nothing in the Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act requires a worker to give a recorded statement and it would be a terrible idea to give one. It doesn’t help you at all. All it can do is give a trained and skilled questioner an opportunity to twist your words against you in a way that kills your case.
This problem is easy to solve. There is no basis for medical treatment to be denied and a simple penalties motion will probably solve it if a phone call doesn’t do the trick. But when you don’t know your rights and/or don’t have someone looking out for you, these are the types of games that will be played.
So if you are asked to give a recorded statement, decline. If they ask what you are hiding, ignore them. What we do to help our clients is answer the questions for them. Anything you say can be used against you. Anything we say can not.
We are workers’ compensation attorneys who help people with Illinois work injuries anywhere in IL via our statewide network of attorneys. Contact us and we will answer your questions or find the right lawyer for your situation.