Workers' Compensation Claims: The Role of Your Doctor, by Attorney Philip J. Gauer

Описание: Columbus Worker's Compensation Lawyers
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What role will your doctor play in your Workers' Compensation Case?

Workers’ compensation claims are not decided by Doctors. And, a good example – I just recently had a prospective client call, and the person’s Doctor had told her she has a Workers’ Compensation claim for her mental condition related to stress at work. The problem is, there actually has to be a physical injury before there can be a mental component. There has to be an underlying physical injury that gives rise to the mental condition, and just the mental alone is not something that is compensable by Workers’ Compensation.

Another example along that same line is, it’s very common in Workers’ Compensation for something called an Independent Medical Exam, or an IME. Some attorneys call them “Defense Medical Exams,” and whenever I see those reports, where I see the physician saying, “This is not compensable as a matter of law,” and that always raises a red flag because the Doctor is not determining the law; they are just giving an opinion on the medical part of it. The determination of compensability, what’s going to be covered and what isn’t going to be covered, that is the duty of the Bureau of Workers’ Compensation and the Industrial Commission. So it’s important to have a good Doctor in the system who can help you understand your injury and the treatment for it. But, it’s also good to have a good lawyer who can help you determine what is and what isn’t covered by Workers’ Comp.”