Many Illinois Workers' Compensation cases follow the same timeline: Injury, Treatment, Maximum Medical Improvement, Release to Work. Workers' Compensation Attorneys help their clients by obtaining payment for reasonable and necessary medical treatment as well as for time off work, and by recovering benefits for any permanent lingering effects or disability sustained from the injury. Also, they help recover any lost earning potential the client may suffer once they have reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) and are released to work in whatever capacity their doctor prescribes.
But what if that isn't the end of it? Despite a patient being released from medical care, sometimes an injury may resurface at a later date. Fortunately, the Workers Compensation Act provides for recovery in just that sort of situation. If there is a material change in your condition after your treatment has "completed", you may still be entitled to further medical care. Also, you may be entitled to reconsideration of the permanent lingering effects or lost earning potential.
Sometimes the severity of an injury isn't discovered until months or years after it occurs. That was the issue recently addressed in a case by the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission. After a worker injured her shoulder and was diagnosed with a shoulder sprain, she completed treatment and was released to work full duty. However, she continued to feel pain and take medications for over a year. She was later diagnosed as having rotator cuff tendinitis. The Commission found sufficient evidence that even though she had completed treatment for the initial diagnosis of a sprain and been released to work regular duty, the tendinitis was related to her earlier injury and was therefore compensable.
Workers' compensation law provides for a worker not just during treatment for a work injury, but after a doctor has determined treatment is finished as well. If you are concerned that your previously treated condition is returning or was never resolved, a workers' compensation attorney may be able to help you.
