Sometimes I feel I’m in the middle of a Dr. Seuss book when I hear the variety of bogus reasons that an injured Illinois worker has had their case denied. I’m not the best ryhmer, but it could be:
We are looking for more information. We are doing an investigation. We heard a different story. We are just going to ignore ya. We have a doctor who is a hired gun. Wrongly denying your case is lots of fun.
I won’t quit my day job.
In all seriousness, every day I hear from injured Illinois workers who have clearly compensable work comp claims and are getting jerked around by the insurance company. The latest was a guy who has never treated for knee problems until he twisted his knee stepping off a forklift. He needs surgery, but his case was recently denied by an IME doctor who said that his need for surgery is not due to the torn meniscus the MRI shows, but instead due to arthritis which is pre-existing.
It takes a lot of balls to write something so ridiculous, but some IME doctor did it. The problem is that this worker was hurt six months before the IME and got a surgery recommendation four months ago. He never hired a lawyer so he allowed the insurance company to convince him to try ice, rest and therapy even though he was in terrible pain and his orthopedic doctor said that they wouldn’t fix the problem. And then eventually they found their hired gun and cut him off.
The point of all of this is that whether you realize it or not, the insurance company is playing games. They may seem nice (not usually). They may approve your case and seem to be doing everything right. But behind the scenes they are not worried about your health, but instead are trying to make sure that they can limit what they pay on your claim.
In this case, had the injured worker gotten a lawyer sooner, they would have had surgery a while ago. The insurance company likely wouldn’t have even wasted their time on such a non-sensible IME and even if they somehow did, a case would already be on file and the worker could get their day in court much faster.
There were other issues in this case. A nurse case manager was talking to his doctor which is a big no no and is designed to interfere with his medical care. It wouldn’t surprise me if they were doing surveillance on him. They took a recorded statement of him which he didn’t have to agree to. All of these things are issues lawyers would have given him a heads up on and protected him from which is the best thing an attorney can do.
A good lawyer, whether you find it here or elsewhere does just that. They protect you. And as it costs nothing up front and they don’t take a penny of your TTD or medical that is already being paid, it’s honestly a no brainer to hire an attorney as soon as you realize you have a significant injury. It’s not too late when a problem has occurred, but the whole idea is to avoid problems in the first place.
I don’t say this to try and get us more business. I say it because it’s simply the truth. If you want a free, confidential, no commitment consult, call us any time.