Injured Workers Need A Lawyer...

Saturday, July 16, 2005 | 0

by Charles R. Wear

Some say that since the workers' compensation system has been reformed that injured workers will not need an attorney to help with their claim. Nothing could be further from the actual situation. The following are the top 3 reasons that injured workers need lawyers.

The employer controls the medical treatment. For injuries after January 1, 2005, if the employer is a member of a medical provider network, the injured worker does not have the right to change physicians, except within the network. Many injured workers will not receive the medical treatment they need to cure or relieve from the effects of their injury. Many will be returned to work too early. The appeals system for this type of medical dispute is complicated. Workers' compensation attorneys can help an injured worker navigate this process.

Utilization review and the application of guidelines delay and deny approval for needed medical treatment. The initiation of utilization review procedures, where medical practitioners make decisions approving or denying treatment based on treatment guidelines, have caused numerous delays in treatment. Once again, an attorney that understand these procedures can assist the injured worker in obtaining necessary medical treatment.

The value of a case will depend on the final medical evaluation. It is likely that the award of permanent disability benefits will depend on the evaluation of an agreed medical evaluator or a qualified medical evaluator chosen by from a State panel. Only represented workers can use an agreed medical evaluator, a doctor chosen because of his reputation for fairness and neutrality. Unrepresented workers must utilize the panel qualified medical evaluator process and choose a doctor from a list chosen by the State. The panel doctors will be unfamiliar to the unrepresented worker. The guidance of an experienced attorney can be invaluable in this process.

In summary, the recent changes in the workers' compensation laws in California have made the process even more complicated. Only an experienced attorney can help fight for the rights of an injured worker to obtain the benefits the system was designed to deliver.

Charles R. Wear is an attorney in the workers' compensation practice of Perona, Langer, Beck, Lallande & Serbin in Long Beach, CA. He has been practicing workers' compensation, mainly representing applicants, since 1990. He also comments on workers' compensation at http://calworkerscomp.info.

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