Illinois Workers' Compensation Attorneys Blog

When a job related injury causes back pain or leg pain it can be difficult to know whether surgery is necessary or if a more conservative method of treatment will be the best option. Many of our clients, from all over the Chicagoland area, have to struggle with this decision on their path to recovery. In considering the options available, it is important to understand each option and how it differs from alternative methods of treatment.

Conservative treatment specifically means those treatment options which are less invasive than actually opening up your body and allowing a doctor to operate. Medication can be one form of treatment for back and leg pain. Medication can help to reduce the pain and sometimes even reduce swelling while the doctor works with you to determine a solution which will have the best outcome. Physical therapy can help the patient gain mobility when joints have stopped moving and may be recommended by a doctor as another conservative treatment method. Manual manipulation is also available as a method of treatment. During this type of treatment, a chiropractor will make physical adjustments to the alignment without opening your body up to surgery. Also, epidural injections, are yet another way to manage pain without surgery.

Surgery is often considered to be a last resort by patients who fear "going under the knife." While it is irreversible and poses a greater risk than most other forms of treatment, it can also be the best option to relieve pain and get you back on your feet. However, surgery is not typically available as an option until a doctor has determined an anatomical cause of your pain to correct with the surgery. If they don't know what's wrong, they won't be able to fix it in the operating room. Even when they do know what is wrong, doctors sometimes debate which treatment is best. A recent study which compared conservative treatment techniques to early surgery found that the one year outcomes were similar no matter which option the patient chose. However, the study did find that early surgery was able to relieve the pain faster for some patients. Deciding what option will be best for your situation is a conclusion that can only be made with the assistance of a qualified doctor.

Both conservative treatment and the more invasive surgical options can be covered under Illinois workers' compensation so long as it can be established that the treatment is reasonable and necessary to treat the condition. If your doctor is recommending a specific course of treatment that has been denied, contact one of our experienced attorneys today so we can begin fighting for you. Only your doctor can help you decide which treatment option is best, but we can help make sure you get that treatment - along with all other benefits you deserve - so you can focus on recovery from your work injury.

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa064039
http://www.spine-health.com/conditions/lower-back-pain/conservative-vs-surgical-care-lower-back-pain

Some employees hurt at work in Illinois take the risk of not hiring a lawyer to handle their Illinois workers' compensation claim because the employee feels that he or she can negotiate with their employer properly and receive full benefits. The problem with not hiring representation is not knowing what you potentially turned down, what benefits you could have received, what rights you could have protected, and how to avoid litigation. The goal is to receive the most benefits from your employer and hiring a lawyer is the best way to receive those benefits. Even if you are a lawyer, it is important to seek attorneys who specialize in workers' compensation claims in order to maximize your recovery.

It is important to understand that almost every company and employer has insurance coverage with a legal in-house counsel team evaluating your injury and trying to minimize the amount of benefits given to you. This legal team's only client is the company or employer and their job is to protect their rights, not yours. Since you do not want to be taken advantage of by the insurance company, it makes it even more important to hire your own lawyer to combat your employer. Handling a workers' compensation claim by yourself should not be considered and is not recommended. Without understanding the legalese, a misstep can cause total bar from compensation. This is why giving notice and contacting a workers' compensation attorney are important steps to take in order to maintain your rights to recover full benefits.

Whether you are in a newly minted job or weeks away from retirement, your future should not be in a state of flux. There should be a form of stability and peace of mind. It is common for injuries to happen at work, but what steps you take after that will determine your peace of mind. At Dworkin & Maciariello, we make sure that your peace of mind is taken care of and you have the ability to receive the benefits you deserve without worrying. Here, we aggressively enforce the Workers' Compensation Act. Our staff of Workers' Compensation attorneys have decades of experience in fighting for the maximum settlement amounts for our clients. Contact us today for a free consultation and case evaluation.

As Illinois Workers' Compensation attorneys, we represent a lot of workers who develop back injuries on the job. Our clients worked hard in Chicago, Joliet, Wheaton, Waukegan, Rockford, Kankakee, and all across the state of Illinois, some of them for many years, and deserve to receive compensation for their missed work and medical expenses.

One back injury we see frequently is the herniated disc. A herniated disc, also called a slipped disc or ruptured disc can be extremely painful. The actual injury occurs to a disc in the client's spine. The discs are small cushions between each of the vertebrae in the spine. When they are functioning properly, the discs act as small shock-absorbers but with the added feature of flexibility to allow the spine to bend. Discs from any portion of the spine can be damaged, but herniated discs most frequently occur in the lower back. These injuries are often caused by a single injury, such as while bending to pick something up or lift a heavy object. While standing or sitting straight, the pressure is equal across all discs. But when the spine bends, certain discs receive much more of the pressure. Herniated discs, especially when they occur in the lower back, can cause pain all the way down to the feet. These injuries often affect the sciatic nerve, causing sciatica to occur. This can cause pain in the thigh, buttocks, legs and feet. These aren't necessarily the result of a second injury, but occur because of the way a single nerve runs from the spine down to the lower leg.

Symptoms frequently only occur on one side of the body because the nerve runs separately down each leg. As with any injury, diagnosis from a trained physician is imperative. The doctor may decide to conduct x-rays, a CT scan or MRI in order to determine if the pain is being caused by a herniated disc. Narrowed space between the vertebrae will often show the doctor that the cause of the pain is a ruptured disc. Herniated discs can occur as the result of a single injury, or over time as the result of repeated work. It is important to alert a doctor to any pain or discomfort in the back, as even minor pain can become worse over time if not properly attended to. Some studies have shown that even people with no symptoms can have herniated discs when evaluated by a doctor. Since no one can simply look into a spine the way they can see a wound or rash, it is necessary to report pain as soon as it starts. Once diagnosed, physical therapy and possibly surgery can help to alleviate the problem.

If you or someone you know suffers with pain from a herniated disc as the result of a work activity, call one of the experienced attorneys in our office. We will fight to make sure that you get the treatment you deserve, and the time off you need to get your life back to normal.

http://www.webmd.com/back-pain/tc/herniated-disc-topic-overview

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/93635-overview

If you are hurt at work in Illinois you should be aware that on June 28, 2011, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn signed into law a number of changes to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act (HB 1698). Many of these changes take effect beginning September 1, 2011, and will have an immediate impact on your rights regarding recovery for work-related injuries. Included among these changes are provisions about the general compensability of injuries, the type and extent of benefits available, and employers' available methods to dispute treatment.

So what does this mean for you - the injured worker?

Many of the changes are fairly incidental and will not drastically affect your basic right to recover. Benefits are still provided for missed time from work, medical treatment, vocational rehabilitation, and permanent effects of your work injury. However, there are provisions that have materially changed certain aspects of the law that can directly affect the injured worker:

Choice of Doctors
In the past, an injured worker was entitled to two doctors of their choice, and their employer was responsible for payment of all of those doctors' medical bills for reasonable and necessary care, as well as for the bills of any other treaters to whom either of those two doctors referred the worker.
In many cases now that will still be the situation. However, under the new law employers have been granted the right to create a "Preferred Provider Program." Such a program would consist of a list of doctors and care providers, and must be approved by the state. If an employer chooses to institute such a program, the worker must first use one of the employer's Preferred Providers or forfeit their first choice of doctor. In that case, the worker will only be entitled to one choice of doctor and any other care providers to whom that one doctor refers the worker. You should be extremely careful before agreeing to treat with one of the employer's chosen doctors - the doctors on an employer's Preferred Provider list may be biased in favor of the employer and should not be seen. Because declining to treat with the employer's doctors will leave the you with only one choice of doctor, it is important that you contact an Illinois Workers' Compensation Attorney before beginning treatment to review with you your doctors and make the best use of your choice.

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
Under the new law there is a cap on the amount you can recover for permanency following treatment of carpal tunnel syndrome. However, this does not change the fact that carpal tunnel syndrome can still be recognized as a work-related injury caused by repetitive trauma. Moreover, your employer may still be held responsible for the cost of treatment as well as compensating you for periods in which you are unable to work.

Wage Differential
Wage Differential is an award to compensate an injured worker for a reduction in earning capacity due to their work injury. Under the new law, you may only recover for reduced wages until you reach the age of 67, or for a period of 5 years after the award of such benefits, whichever comes later.

These are just some of the changes in the new Illinois Workers' Compensation law. The legislation itself is long and complex; however, experienced Illinois Workers' Compensation Attorneys are familiar with both the old law and the new law.

If you have been hurt at work, you should contact one of these attorneys today so they can help you to understand your rights and fight to get you the maximum benefits you may be entitled to.

Often when an Illinois worker is hurt his or her doctor will impose medical restrictions during treatment that require the worker to stay off work for a period of time. Similarly, the doctor may impose restrictions limiting the type of work the injured worker may due. If this happens, a workers' compensation attorney can help insure that you are afforded compensation for the time you may be forced to miss, among other benefits you are entitled to under Illinois workers' compensation law.

However, when a doctor makes recommendations regarding your ability to handle physically demanding activity, it is not just a free pass to stay off work. The doctor's diagnosis and restrictions should be taken seriously and applied to everyday life as well. Ignoring the doctor's directions may not only be detrimental to your recovery, but also may have negative repercussions on your eligibility for workers' compensation benefits.

In order to avoid paying workers' compensation benefits to their injured workers, employers may use surveillance techniques to try and prove the worker is not actually hurt, or that they are not as hurt as they claim they are. Even if the worker has a note from his or her doctor, if the employer can produce surveillance evidence that the worker is capable of physically demanding work, the courts may agree to cut off benefits. In recent cases in and around Chicago, workers' benefits have been discontinued due to video evidence of participation in activities such as raking gravel, dumping trash, or even carrying bags of groceries.

These instances make it clear that it is important to follow your doctor's instructions. Even though you may feel capable of typical daily household chores, if your doctor has placed restrictions on your physical exertions, you should heed his or her advice. Not only is it important for your recovery from whatever condition you may be suffering from, but also to ensure your employer doesn't find a way to get out of providing you the benefits you deserve.

One issue that can arise when Illinois employees who are hurt at work are seeking workers' compensation is that of preexisting conditions. This sort of issue arises often with back injuries such as herniated discs, or injuries affecting joints such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Also, the issue is prevalent in cases where the condition may be attributed to some sort of degenerative disease.

Under the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act, a worker is entitled to benefits if they can show that the preexisting condition was "aggravated or accelerated" by their employment. This means that if you can identify something from your work that made the condition surface, worsen, or speed up, then you may have a workers' compensation claim despite having been previously diagnosed or having a past medical history indicating that such a condition existed.

However, there are some restrictions to the compensability of preexisting conditions. For instance, there must be a specific time, place, and cause of the aggravation. It is not enough to simply claim prolonged stress when attempting to establish a claim for aggravation of a preexisting condition. Also, if your preexisting condition is the actual cause of your injury, then it may not be compensable. Falls and accidents arising from individual medical conditions are deemed "idiopathic" and workers who suffer injuries of this nature are generally not entitled to benefits under Illinois workers' compensation law. This is fairly common with conditions such as seizures, and recently the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission dealt with that issue in determining that a worker with a history of epilepsy was having a seizure when his forklift crashed, and therefore the injuries arising out of the accident were not compensable.

Preexisting conditions can present a hurdle to obtaining benefits under workers' compensation law. Defense attorneys and doctors will try to pin your current injury on those conditions in order to get out off providing for the benefits you deserve. However, if your doctor believes that your employment caused your injury, regardless of any preexisting conditions, then an Illinois Workers' Compensation Attorney can fight for you and help you receive the benefits you deserve.

Illinois Workers' Compensation News: On April 14, 2011 Illinois Senate Bill 1349, a proposed amendment to the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act, was defeated. The proposed amendment would have drastically altered or eliminated many of the rights and benefits that workers' compensation attorneys in Chicago and across Illinois have been fighting for on behalf of injured workers for years. Among some of the proposed changes were:

Providing explicit definitions for the terms "accident" and "injury";
Stricter guidelines for establishing causal connections between the workers' injury and the work accident or circumstances of employment;

Eliminating the injured worker's right to choose their own physician for the first 60 days following notice of the accident, and replacing it with the employer's right to choose which physician may initially diagnose and treat an injury;

Eliminating Temporary Total Disability (TTD) benefits for injured workers if they are fired for cause, regardless of whether they have finished treating or are able to work;

Eliminating an employer's liability to provide medical care or benefits beyond an initial emergency inpatient or outpatient visit if the employee was intoxicated by alcohol, marijuana, or any controlled substance when he or she was injured;

Terminating wage differential awards at the time when either the employee reaches the age of 67, or when the award has been paid for 5 years, whichever occurs at a later date;
Stricter guidelines for establishing the extent of an injured workers' Permanent Partial Disability (PPD) after treatment has concluded;

Clearly, this proposed amendment would have had a devastating effect on the rights that injured workers have relied on in order to receive the benefits they deserve. However, Senate Bill 1349 only received 25 of the 30 votes required in order for the bill to pass, and the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act survives in its current form to provide for the injured worker.

In Illinois, if you are hurt at work, there are three types of benefits that you are entitled to by law. An Illinois Workers' Compensation attorney will ensure that you receive these benefits. The law provides compensation for:

Time off work - If you are unable to work due to restrictions given by your doctor, you are entitled to receive weekly payments equal to 2/3 of your average weekly wage until you are either able to work again or have completed treatment for your work injury. In workers compensation, this is called "Temporary Total Disability", or "TTD" for short.

Medical bills - Your employer is required to pay all reasonable and necessary medical bills relating to your work injury. This includes doctor visits, diagnostic testing such as MRIs or X-Rays, surgery, and rehabilitation services such as physical therapy.

Permanent disability - The law recognizes that even after you have finished treatment, you will never be 100% again. You may be completely disabled, or you may have some lingering affects from the injury and treatment. Even if you are not completely disabled, you are entitled to compensation for the permanent effects of your work injury.

These benefits, as well as other aspects of workers compensation law are provided by the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act. Workers' Compensation attorneys are familiar with this body of law and the necessary processes involved in getting injured workers the benefits they deserve.

Illinois workers may suffer concussions if they receive a traumatic blow to the head. After the concussion, they may also experience post-concussion syndrome. When dealing with the effects of a concussion or post-concussion syndrome, it is important to understand the condition. Moreover, if the injury occurred at work, you should know your rights under Illinois workers' compensation law.

There are a range of physical symptoms that can indicate a possible concussion including headache, vomiting, nausea, and lack of motor coordination. Concussions can also cause difficulty balancing, ringing in the ears, sensitivity to lights, and blurred or double vision. There are also "mental" symptoms such as confusion and disorientation, as well as difficulty paying attention. A key indicator of a concussion is an inability to remember the events leading up to the injury. Typically, treatment consists of rest and monitoring, and most symptoms of a concussion will go away within a few weeks after the injury.

However, with post-concussion syndrome the symptoms of the concussion may linger for weeks, months, or even up to a year or more. Generally the symptoms that persist may be headaches, difficulty concentrating, or even irritability. Similar to concussions, there is no way to actively treat the actual condition, although physical therapy and medication may be used to treat the symptoms of post-concussion syndrome.

If you have suffered a head injury at work and your doctor believe your symptoms indicate a concussion or that you are experiencing post-concussion syndrome, a workers' compensation attorney can fight to make sure that you are afforded whatever time off and care your doctor believes is necessary. You are entitled by law to receive all reasonable and necessary medical care for your injury, as well as compensation for any time you are forced to miss while recovering. An Illinois Workers' Compensation Attorney will be on your side to ensure you get the benefits you deserve.

When thinking about injuries worthy of workers' compensation, most people probably think the injury must have occurred during work hours and at work. However, this is not always true. Two recent cases coming out of the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission highlight this point.

The first case involves a parking lot leased by the employer to provide parking spaces to the employees. The parking lot was next to the workplace and had an employee-only side entrance. However, the other side of the parking lot was for the public. In the case, the employee slipped and fell on ice while exiting his vehicle in the parking lot. The arbitrator's decision was that since the employer did not own or exercise control over the parking lot, benefits should be denied. However, the Commission reviewed the decision and determined that the employee's accident arose out of and in the course of his employment. The Commission reasoned that even though the employer did not own the parking lot, it did provide spaces to its employees and designated an employee only entrance. By doing this, the employer exercised control over the employees' route. Therefore, the employee was granted workers' compensation benefits.

The next case involves an employer-sponsored charity bowling event where an employee was injured. The event was held during business hours and any employee who did not want to participate had to work their normal business day. Additionally, employees were paid their regular wages during the event. At first, the Commission ruled that the employee was injured during a voluntary recreational activity and therefore the injury did not arise out of employment. However, the Circuit Court overturned this decision reasoning that the benefit was the employer's charitable program and in fact not a recreational activity. The Court went on to explain that the employer derived a benefit by furthering its business interests as a socially responsible corporate citizen and the event was not organized simply as a recreational escape for its employees. Therefore, the employee's accident and injury arose out of her employment and is due compensation.

These cases illustrate the widening definition of what it means for an injury to arise out of employment. If you have been injured and think that the injury may be related to your employment somehow, you may be due workers' compensation benefits. The rule that the injury must be related to work is not so stringent that it must be during business hours while performing a business related activity. If you have been injured and think you have a workers' compensation case, contact your Illinois Work Injury Attorney.

Sources:
Eberhardt v. City of Chicago, 18 ILWCLB 60 (Ill. W.C. Comm. 2009).
Cramer v. Viacom Outdoor, 18 ILWCLB 83 (Ill. Cir. Ct., Cook 2010).

If your bills are not getting paid while you are off work or partially paid the Illinois Workers' Compensation Act can protect you. There is a lot to worry about when you are injured at work.  When will I be able to work again? Will I be able to work in the same capacity?  How will I provide for my family during this hard time?  How am I going to pay my medical bills?  How do I make sure my employer is held responsible and does what they are supposed to do?  The answer to at least one of these questions can be answered by contacting an attorney.

Your employer is required to pay your medical bills.  If medical bills are not paid, they may be sent to a collection agency.  If a collection agency is contacting you to recover payment, do not worry. The Illinois Workers Compensation Act has protections to stop bill collectors before your credit rating is affected or you are sued. The best way to make sure that is true, is to contact an attorney.  An attorney who is well-versed in workers' compensation law can file an emergency motion with the Workers' Compensation Commission to get your medical bills paid in a timely manner by your employer. 

You have the right to have your medical bills paid 100% in a workers' compensation case if the treatment is connected, reasonable and necessary. To make sure your employer is complying with the law, you should contact your Illinois Work Injury Attorney.  

If you are awarded Workers' Compensation Benefits, then your employer should pay for your medical bills. If you are being told differently, or are being expected to pay a portion of your bills, contact your Illinois Work Injury Attorney.

Not only should your medical bills be paid for, you have the right to choose up to two doctors of your choice. Plus, if those doctors refer you to other doctors, your employer must pay those expenses as well. Legally, your employer is responsible for:

-Emergency Services
-Physicians & Hospital stays
-Any additional medical care the worker is referred to

While employers are allowed to request an independent medical evaluation, the employer is responsible for payment of that exam.

If you are hurt at work, you have rights. You may be entitled to:

-Unemployment Compensation
-Social Security Benefits
-Disability Benefits
-Group Health Insurance Benefits

To be sure that your employer is following the law and that you are receiving all you are legally entitled to, please contact your Illinois Work Injury Attorney.

Being injured at work can have significant consequences. One possibility is that an employee may be injured so badly that they are on permanent restrictions as a result. This can be devastating for an employee because he/she may feel like there is no other way for them to make a living. This is not true.

The law states that if an injured employee is put on permanent restrictions and the employer cannot accomodate for the injury, then the employer has the responsibility to hire a vocational counselor for the injured employee. A vocational counselor should help an employee explore their future by recommending schools, apprenitice programs and retraining. Unfortunately, many vocational counselors hired by employers do not do a great job. They sometimes will just pressure an employee to fill out job search logs and only push for minimum wage positions.

An injured employee does not have to settle for a less than mediocre vocational counselor. An attorney can aid an injured employee in finding a helpful counselor that will assist the injured employee in finding a career and the training to succeed in the career that is right for them. Contact your Illinois Work Injury Attorney for more information and help in this process.

Being injured at work means you deserve compensation. However, that is not the only rule that applies in workers' compensation cases. In addition to formulas regarding the length of time an injured employee is due compensation, there are also sections of the Workers' Compensation Act that lay out how much of an injured employee's medical bills should be paid.

The general process for Workers' Compensation claims, is that an injured employee reports to his/her medical provider that the treatment being sought is for a work related injury. The medical provider then bills the employer directly and the employer should pay the bill within 60 days. If your employer has not, you should contact an attorney.

The amount of money your employer is required to pay for your medical bills is determined by a fee schedule. Through the fee schedule, the Illinois Workers' Compensation Commission controls the maximum payment allowed for a procedure, treatment or service. This maximum medical payment is determined by figuring out the 90% of the 80th percentile from health care providers. Each treatment, procedure or service has a medical code number that can be put into the fee schedule formula to determine the maximum amount of money that an employer must pay.

This information is important because it can help an injured employee determine what a fair settlement looks like and whether to accept one or not. Since figuring out what type of compensation you are due is so complicated, you should contact your Illinois Work Injury Attorney.

You know you deserve compensation if you are injured at work. But from there the question becomes how much? How much does my injury deserve? The Illinois Workers' Compensation Act lays out complicated formulas for determining the amount of benefit an injured employee deserves. This information can be very helpful when deciding whether to take a settlement or not. For example, there are different rates of compensation if you are temporarily disabled versus permanently disabled. Also, depending on the body part injured and the extent of the injury, you are due compensation for a different number of weeks.

The table above provides examples the period of time an injured employee is to receive compensation of a temporary total incapacity depending on the body part and extent injured. An attorney can help determine how much compensation your are due based on this formula and other information provided in the Act by examining your medical records. Sometimes, an experienced attorney can increase the amount of compensation you receive by arguing you actually have suffered a lost of trade.

However, each case is different and every injured employee has circumstances unique to their situation. The best way to make sure you are getting the benefits you deserve, is to contact your Illinois Work Injury Attorney.

Source: 820 ILCS 305/8