4 Times You Should Talk To A Workers Compensation Attorney

Posted on: 24 June 2015

If you have been injured on the job, you may count yourself fortunate that your employer offers workers compensation to cover your medical treatment and rehabilitation -- but there are certain scenarios where you may need the services of an attorney to make sure your needs are being met. Here are four times you should give consider bringing legal representation on board.

1. You're Not Getting the Physical Therapy You Need

Physical therapy and other forms of rehabilitation can play a critical role in restoring optimal strength and flexibility. Your employer may send you to a particular clinic that specializes in workers compensation cases. You'll need to cooperate fully with your therapists and perform all the prescribed exercises if you want to heal properly. At the same time, however, you need to know that you're getting all the care you need, and that you're discharged only after everything possible has been done to restore physical function.

If you feel like you're being rushed through the rehab process or that you've been discharged from therapy prematurely, you need to talk to a workers compensation attorney. While the facility really may have done all it reasonably can, you have the right to make sure. A workers compensation attorney can work with the insurance company to extend your covered care if necessary.

2. You're Concerned About the Settlement Agreement

Once you've completed your treatment and any necessary physical therapy, a physician will evaluate your strength, balance, range of motion, and other variables to determine whether you've sustained some percentage of permanent disability. Based on that percentage, a financial settlement will then be offered to you. But while the money may be badly needed, you may find that the figure just scrapes the surface of your injury's lifetime financial impact. 

Unless you're complete confident that your injury will have little to no effect on your future life and employability, don't sign any settlement agreement until you've discussed it with your workers compensation attorney. The second you sign your name to the agreement, you lose all rights to pursue future compensation through the courts. If you will need a larger settlement to help you live your new post-injury life, your attorney may advise you to hold out for it.

3. You're Thinking of Retiring

If your injury occurred late in your career, you may be thinking that you're close enough to retirement age to draw the curtain on your working life once and all. Be aware, however, that accepting Social Security payments or other kinds of retirement benefits can drastically reduce whatever medical benefits you've been receiving through workers compensation. After all, workers compensation benefits are for working individuals, not retirees. If you're confused about whether you can or should retire, you must consult a workers compensation attorney before making any move out of the workplace.

4. Your Coverage Is Being Denied

When your injury falls under your employer's workers compensation coverage, the insurance company is supposed to pay for all medical treatments services considered essential to your recovery and basic needs, from major surgeries to wheelchair rentals. From time to time, however, you may receive an erroneous charge on your own insurance for services supposedly covered by workers compensation. This situation calls for professional legal intervention. The threat of a lawsuit, in the form of an official letter from a worker's compensation attorney, can do wonders to draw attention to your plight and get those charges taken off of your insurance bills. 

If your workers compensation claim was denied outright, seek legal advice immediately. A workers compensation attorney can examine the reasons for the denial and possibly dispute them. these experts know how to find and produce the necessary medical and legal documentation for an appeal.

While you can view any of these scenarios as natural triggers for consulting a workers compensation attorney, there's no reason you have to wait for them to pop up. Contact some attorneys in your area or look at sites like http://www.grdlaw.com/ as soon as your workers compensation coverage begins, and you'll have a strong ally already on your side when you need one. 

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