Injured During Work Comp Rehab - Your Compensation Options

If you suffer an injury during the course of your work duties and incur medical expenses or miss time away from your job, you are entitled to collect workers’ compensation payments to help offset related expenses or lost wages. These benefits should continue while you progress through your rehabilitation program and until you return to work, but what happens if you suffer a setback during your recovery period? Can you collect additional compensation for this setback, or only for expenses related to the original injury? We explore how subsequent injuries during your rehab period are handled by the workers’ compensation system.

Setback During Workers’ Compensation Treatment

It’s not all that common to suffer a setback during your injury recovery period, but it probably occurs more than most people realize. Your body is in a weakened state following an on-the-job injury, and if you push it too hard during physical therapy, you develop complications following a surgical procedure or your injuries directly lead to another injury like a fall, how are these new injuries handled by the workers’ compensation system?

Fortunately, as long as you can prove that your new injuries are a direct result of your original work injury, you should be able to file for additional benefits related to the new injury. So for example, if you develop an infection after surgery that was required to address a work injury, any additional care to treat the infection will be compensable through a subsequent injury claim. Similarly, if you suffered a head injury at work, and your doctor noted that dizziness and fainting could occur as a result of your injury, you may be eligible for compensation if you lose your balance and break your ankle during a fall.

The key to any subsequent claim is that there needs to be ample evidence that the new injury is directly tied to the original injury. Your explanation of how the new injuries occurred will go a long way in helping prove this connection, but the two biggest assets you’ll lean on to prove this will be your doctor and your lawyer.

Your Doctor – Your doctor can provide some one-of-a-kind insights into your original injury and a professional opinion on how one could lead to the other. Their testimony will carry more weight in the eyes of the insurance company, and if they attest to the connection between your original injury and the new injury, it will be very hard for the insurance company to make a legitimate claim otherwise. This speaks to the importance of connecting with a knowledgeable doctor that you trust to provide your original and any additional independent medical exams after a work injury.

Your Lawyer – You’ll also want to lean on your lawyer for guidance and assistance when filing your original and subsequent injury claims. They dedicate their livelihood to proving that injured workers are eligible for injury benefits, and they know how to position a secondary claim that showcases how the new injuries are clearly connected to your original work claim. The insurance company will have professionals in their corner trying to limit their liability, so don’t try to win a claim without a professional on your side.

At Margolis Law Firm, we’ve helped countless workers get benefits for their original injury and subsequent injuries that developed during their recovery period. We know how frustrating a setback like this can be, and that’s only amplified if the insurance company won’t reimburse you for these additional expenses. Let us help you avoid these headaches and keep your claim moving in the right direction.

For more information about filing a first or secondary injury claim, reach out to Dean and the team at Margolis Law Firm today at (952) 230-2700.