Worker Can Recover Costs of Medical Treatment by Non-Intervening Providers

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that an injured employee’s right to assert a direct claim for unpaid medical expenses is not precluded by a medical provider’s failure to intervene in a pending workers’ compensation case. Medical treatment is one of the benefits owed to injured workers and the statute that gives providers up to 60 days to intervene in a work comp case does not alter "the employee's freestanding substantive right to have their qualifying medical expenses paid by their employer," the court said. Daniel Johnson injured his back in March 2005 whi...