I read once that if something drives you crazy, you should scream in to a pillow. I don’t do that, but if I did it would be because of the calls I get and cases I read about where I can’t believe the problems an insurance company is causing an injured worker.
Work comp insurance companies in Illinois have a right to fight cases and they should have that right. I don’t want some liar or faker to get benefits because when they do it hurts the workers with real injuries. They can fight good people over real disputes, but the ones that make me scream are the ones that shouldn’t be fought but are.
This annoyance came to mind when I read about a worker who hurt his knee while working on an assembly line. He was walking on a rubber mat while doing his normal job duties which required him to walk up and down the line, pull parts and put garage door panels together. While walking he turned to check instructions on a clipboard. As he turned his body his knee twisted and he tore his meniscus. The end result was a surgery.
To me this was an injury that was clearly a risk of his job duties. When that happens the only thing the insurance company should be doing is supporting you in getting the medical treatment that you really need. Delaying attempts by them can make a minor injury more serious and a serious injury life altering.
Yet what happens is that there are doctors out there that will say something like “Twisting and hurting your knee shows it was already hurt” even when there is no history of knee problems. Or they will pretend like there was no risk in walking up and down all day while ignoring how the employer benefits from the workers doing these tasks.
Twisting injuries are almost always good cases. It’s almost always a risk of the job even if it seems like a basic act. Workers should not get punished when they are hurt in these manners.
The good news is that this worker of course won his trial and his appeal. The bad news is that he even had to go through that nonsense in the first place. Insurance companies should pay the good cases and fight the bad cases. Instead they try to save money by contesting cases that are clearly compensable. It’s enough to make a guy want to scream in to a pillow.
