My husband had a blowout in a truck that he was driving for the company. It was no fault of his own because the front tire blew out and became uncontrollable so it went in the ditch.

He was on w/c for two months. There was an injury to his hand. They took xrays and couldn't find the problem. Finally after a long time they took a bone scan and where his injury is it shows total black color. The doctor said it was arthritis that developed from the injury.

The doctor released him back to work and said if it starts hurting to come back and he will give him a cortizone shot. Also, he said in 5-10 years he may need to have a stint put in.

He is now back to work and if he uses his hand too much, it swells up.

I don't know it just doesn't seem right. Seems like he should get some kind of settlement out of this. He does like his job though.

I am just wondering if they might of made a misdiagnosis on this. It just doesn't seem right somehow.

Hi Lady, I too broke my ankle at work. Immediatly I was back to work under 'Light duty" After my Dr. released me back to full duty, about 5-6 months after break, that is typically when you'll get a letter to go see a workers comp Dr. That Dr. will give your husband a % of loss (if he has one) of his hand, range of motion mostly, then a few weeks around that time you'll recieve papers to attend a workers comp hearing. At that time the judge will give you a settlement that is on some sort of schedule for hand loss. For my foot I had a 10% loss and ended up with only $5,000. I've heard many people retain lawyers and such, but they are only going to give you the amount the hand and loss of equals. The whole process from break to getting the check was less than 15 months or so. Hope that helps some!, Stephanie

hello lady50, i know that here in texas if you get hurt on the job when you go to a doc you file a work comp claim. i worked a chiropractor for a long time and we would do it for the patient. you send it in and you will be assigned to an adjustor. do you have a family doc who takes w/c? if so he/she should have the paperwork to be filled out. he should be able to refer you where you can go for treatment for his hand and whatever else he needs. also if he ends up needing any kind of pt it will be covered. depending how long he takes to get better is when he will reach the end and thats when an impairement rating will be scheduled to see the percentage and maximum medical improvement. this will determine the whole money factor just like the last postee said.
if his employer and w/c insurance are cooperative then you really should't need an atty, but if they start giving yall a hard time about what he needs and making him do stuff that hurts him then i would try a find a good one.
even if you don't want to mess with everything you can get an atty and they should handle everything for yall and give you any advice.
if your husbands hand is still hurting and is willing to go and get it looked at make sure that it is added to his w/c chart if he goes in.
i know that when i got hurt on the job (at the chiro. can you believe it) i was taken off work by my treating physician and went through pt, treatments, adjustments and lots of other things. i ended up with a 12 percent impairement rating and was given 7,000 for that.
i hope this kind of helps. if you have any questions about the w/c rules in your state maybe you can call an atty and ask for some advice.

robin

Hi,
Just reading these post about w/c settlements, and they seem so low. My brother-in-law had a rotor cuff tear and he got like $22,000. He did have the surgery, but still I would think an ankle would have been at least that amount.
have a good night
cookie

Sorry getting back so late for reply. I really thank you for the advice.

I believe he said that he has 80% usage of one hand and 60% of the other. This will be affecting his working ability farther on down the road.

The workmans comp. doc said he will have to have a stent put in within 5 years. Now who is gonna pay for that by golly?

The workmans comp. doctor(a hand surgeon) said that if it starts hurting worse to go in and he will give him a hydrocortizone shot. Here we go again who is paying for that? He is not on workmans comp now. We live in Missouri.
My hubby will just have to ask them some questions about it I guess.

Thanks for your help :D

Well now the doc found out my DH has whiplash from the wreck. He is not on workmens comp. but shouldn't workmens comp. pay for these ct scans and xrays.

He has United Healthcare through his work but I don't think UH will pay for that. I am sure they will turn it over to workmens comp.

We'll see. Might have to get an attorney for this case. Heee!!! ;)

hola lady50, yes w/c should pay for all the x-rays and mri. as long as you have a w/c claim number they will usually approve it. i think that the place you have the x-rays done at will try and get it approved even before you go and they will let you know. i would get an atty because they know the ins and outs of all that stuff. to me i think it is worth it to have an atty if you need one because it seems like the insurance companies try and take advantage of us. of course this is my opinion. it doesn't even bother me that i will have to give them part of my settlement. right now i am trying to get disability and i have an atty only because it is to stressful to try and deal with it on my own. i even had one when i was in an auto acc. 10yrs ago and it was well worth it. they did everything for me.
goodluck with everything and take care
robin :)

Thanks so much. The doctor he is seeing now is the one he went to after his wreck so he surely has the wc claim number. I will have to ask him that.

After he gets his xrays and MRI we will have to see about an attorney if it shows damage.

Appreciate your advice

Just an update on DH. He had an MRI on the neck area. He has degenerative arthritis and a bulge. Also, he has carotid artery disease of the neck. Note: His wreck with the company truck was from a blowout, not his fault. The truck rolled over October 2004. Now all these injuries are showing up.

I believe it is from whiplash injuries. We will have to work on getting xrays that were taken right after the accident and compare.

Doc said he needs to wear a neck brace and then later down the road might require surgery. That would be a disability claim I would say. He does not want to go on disability and sure can't blame him.