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Old 05-07-2018, 05:19 PM   #1
6130
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Default Worker's Comp sucks.

I'm a cop. Last night, I was injured in the line of duty, chasing a violent felon who had just savagely attacked a young family- including a woman who was 9-months pregnant and her three small daughters.

The X-ray technician at the ER looked at the x-rays, and told me right off it's broken. The ER doctor also said it's broken. But the radiologist says he doesn't think it's broken. So they splinted it, handed me a prescription for narcotic pain pills (which I threw in the trash on the spot), and told me to follow up with an orthopedic doctor.

The felon was released from custody before I was released from the ER.

So I got up this morning, and started trying to make arrangements to see an orthopedic doctor. Over four hours of calling, getting put on hold, being transferred to different departments, getting disconnected, being transferred to different counties, and being told that "We don't do worker's comp".

I risk my life to protect other people, and when I get injured doing it, I am faced with what seems like an impenetrable bureaucracy specifically designed to prevent people like me from getting the medical care they are supposed to get.

Last edited by 6130; 05-07-2018 at 06:39 PM.
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Old 05-08-2018, 10:58 PM   #2
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Default Re: Worker's Comp sucks.

Saw doctor # 2 today. He said it's broken too. Then he showed it to his radiologist, who said it doesn't look broken. Don't know if it's the same radiologist from the other day or not. Don't know if I've ever arrested him, his friends, his associates, and/or his relatives.

So I got an MRI this afternoon. Follow-up appointment with Dr. # 2 on the 11th.

This medical stuff pisses me off, especially since I come from an auto repair background- I mean, these guys only have two models to work on, male and female. It's not like they have gotten new models to work on every year, from points and carburetors to direct ignition and direct injection.

And I know the difference between guessing and diagnosis. Guessing is not a skill- anyone can guess.
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Old 05-08-2018, 11:52 PM   #3
Lew Silverman
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Default Re: Worker's Comp sucks.

First of all, without question, thank you for your service and dedication. The people you serve should be proud to have you protecting them!

That said - why the (expletive deleted) are you tying to go through this by YOURSELF? Shouldn't someone at your department be working FOR YOU to see that you are properly cared for? This was a Line of Duty (LOD) injury, so there must be someone at your city/county/state whose ONLY job is working LOD and insurance claims, so why are YOU, the injured party, having to jump through flaming (expletive deleted) hoops to have your injuries seen to properly? Why wasn't someone from your Union or the FOP on the telephone immediately asking "What can WE do for YOU"? In most departments and municipal governments LOD injuries are taken VERY SERIOUSLY, as they effect the insurance premiums they pay (tax money!) and these are just the kind of incidents that are tracked at the State/Federal level (the higher the payouts the more scrutiny the department receives).

Hopefully the doctors you see on the 11th will know how to properly read an MRI and can give you an accurate prognosis.

Shouldn't you now be on some form of Sick or Administrative Leave? Unless you are losing "hours" because of your injuries, you shouldn't be receiving "workman's compensation". That normally only happens when all other forms of compensation have been exhausted. Many folks purchase supplemental insurance (think the AFLAC duck!) to make-up for lost income during an extended period away from work.

Hope you get things worked out soon!
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Old 05-09-2018, 01:08 AM   #4
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Default Re: Worker's Comp sucks.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lew Silverman View Post
First of all, without question, thank you for your service and dedication. The people you serve should be proud to have you protecting them!

That said - why the (expletive deleted) are you tying to go through this by YOURSELF? Shouldn't someone at your department be working FOR YOU to see that you are properly cared for? This was a Line of Duty (LOD) injury, so there must be someone at your city/county/state whose ONLY job is working LOD and insurance claims, so why are YOU, the injured party, having to jump through flaming (expletive deleted) hoops to have your injuries seen to properly? Why wasn't someone from your Union or the FOP on the telephone immediately asking "What can WE do for YOU"? In most departments and municipal governments LOD injuries are taken VERY SERIOUSLY, as they effect the insurance premiums they pay (tax money!) and these are just the kind of incidents that are tracked at the State/Federal level (the higher the payouts the more scrutiny the department receives).

Hopefully the doctors you see on the 11th will know how to properly read an MRI and can give you an accurate prognosis.

Shouldn't you now be on some form of Sick or Administrative Leave? Unless you are losing "hours" because of your injuries, you shouldn't be receiving "workman's compensation". That normally only happens when all other forms of compensation have been exhausted. Many folks purchase supplemental insurance (think the AFLAC duck!) to make-up for lost income during an extended period away from work.

Hope you get things worked out soon!
My sentiments exactly.

And thank you, but I knew what I was signing up for, to include the risk of stuff like this.

And I'm getting paid, and paid well, one way or another. That's not an issue. I'm a high-school dropout that makes well into six figures. They should pay me for the time that I'm out injured, but I have tons of sick pay saved up, so I'll get paid, either way.

If I'm out beyond the 15th, I'll begin losing overtime shifts that I had volunteered for, which not only affects my income, but also affects my retirement, which is based on my income. That is an issue.

I too, would have expected people to bend over backwards to take care of me, given what I do. I don't do it for the "atta-boys". I do it because it's the right thing to do. I do it because God has equipped me to stand up for people who cannot stand up for themselves.

But so far that hasn't been the case. The medics with the ambulance that responded to the scene, wanted to transport me. But my immediate supervisor ordered me to drive myself to the Emergency Room. After I was released from the ER, I still had to complete my reports, even though I couldn't type with both hands. It's pretty apparent, that my employer is only concerned with limiting their own liability- they only want to be able to show that they made reasonable efforts to provide me medical care.

Last edited by 6130; 05-09-2018 at 01:14 AM.
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Old 05-09-2018, 08:39 AM   #5
Jeff Niceswanger
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Default Re: Worker's Comp sucks.

Workers Comp is Horrible .. and it's getting worse, but we all know this. There is so much fraud, and slackers trying to scam the system. It's made a bad system, even worse. After spending a decade as our Locals President, I can answer the question about most unions involvement, or lack of, in WC cases. We ( UE United Electrical and Machine workers of America) were not set up to handle Workers Comp issues. We were staffed to inforce the contract. If the workers comp language would have been in the contract, then we would have enforced the language. And our lawyers and Reps would have been trained in such . But the workers Comp system is a federal deal. We had " favorite " lawyers that we recommended to our members,most of that came in by word of mouth. Unions can advise you, but their not experts, so they are uneasy about giving advise sometimes. Bad advise is worse than no advise....
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Old 07-26-2021, 09:15 PM   #6
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Default Re: Worker's Comp sucks.

I hope the 3-year necropost is okay- I just came across my own thread from 3 years ago, and wanted to give an update.

This injury in the line of duty absolutely turned our lives upside-down. But in some ways it was also a blessing.

As it turns out, it wasn't just my hand that was jacked up- my shoulder was torn, and my bicep was torn too. We didn't find out about it until after my hand was healed and I started physical therapy. I had reconstructive shoulder surgery to repair my shoulder socket and reattach my bicep.

Then came a year and a half of painful physical therapy.

During that whole time, I was drawing a full paycheck, which sounds like a good thing, but I typically made an extra $50-70K a year in overtime, so a full paycheck was basically a $50-70K pay cut. We still had positive cash flow, because we live within our means, but this tanked our plans of paying off everything before I retired.

During this time, my young wife was diagnosed with cancer. As a cop, we had excellent medical coverage. If I had retired before she was diagnosed, we would have lost her medical coverage, and that would have been it for us. Five surgeries later, she is doing well, and we consider cancer to be in our past.

Ultimately, the injury in the line of duty retired me. I first settled the worker's comp side of it, so that I could pay off our debts, since my disability retirement had to go through a long process before it could be approved. We were barely able to hang on financially. After another year, my disability retirement was approved, which more than doubled my existing pension, refunded all of my retirement contributions, and gave me free medical for life. This allowed us to purchase a property in Texas with some acreage.

And as I'm sure all of you know, now is an EXCELLENT time to not be a cop...
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Old 07-27-2021, 09:35 PM   #7
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Default Re: Worker's Comp sucks.

I was one of those "road side targets" with the signs and cones as in '09 I needed something to do to keep the house phone quiet. Company I worked for, a.k.a. "angry white people" made it clear, get W.C. if hurt on the job, you will get gone. Dec.10, '10 I was hit from behind and the outside of my right foot was run over.I was in a work zone clearly marked, she did not get a ticket, one of the cops said he should give me a ticket.She said she didn;t see me, 6'3, 240, bright yellow coat. We had to join IBEW, they were useless, I delt with hammer mechanics for dr.s, I got fired 9 months later and went to w.c. court and got a judgement, useless liar (lawyer), he got mad later after I got him my pidotrist papers from Fla, that he wanted, said I could be charged with fraud.I could not race, as they knew I did, knew my car and used spotters to check up on people.My foot is an excellent baro. in the winter.The most excellent person in this whole mess, was a man at S.S. nearby who helped me out.There is a whole lot more, couldn't race, still have car, house, and other stuff.Most important lesson, be very carefull who you trust, as I was playing by Florida rules, and not by the rules in this sewer state. John Kissel
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