workmans comp/gotta get this off my chest....sorry once again about the length

[Guest guest]

Hey all,

I won't go into every detail, , but I receieved a phone call yesterday

from some " new " gal who is now managing my w/c case, and apparently we are at

odds over things, and I will just leave it at that, but I am getting the

feeling that if you are an honest individual who is NOT trying to " screw " the

system over and especially if you do not know or fully understand all of the

technicalities and legalities of workmans compensation, that it may well be

you....i.e. ME, who wind up getting screwed.

One thing I would like to say about my hour long " conversation " with

this unexplained NEW case manager, was that she told me that " YOU " (me), quit

your job..... " ...and that " I " (she) goes into work every day even with aches

and pains... "

That set me off.

How dare her to compare her everyday aches and pains to ANYONE who

suffers from what ranges from average nagging pain, to excrutiating lower

back pain, on a daily basis... from a herniated disc and degenerative disc

desease???

I told her that unless she has had pain like this, that she has no

right to talk to ME about pain....and that my decision to resign my job was

one of the hardest decisions I've ever had to make, and it did and still does

affect me emotionally....

Plus, I tried to explain that I have worked since I was a teenager and

am certainly not a bum looking for a pot of gold.....and how long I fought

the pain, going into work everyday for over a year suffering greatly, and

doing very physical labor unloading trucks....not sitting at a desk like she

is.....

Man, I don't know if I could be more frustrated or confused.

I wonder if anybody here has any idea how one person might try and

attempt to do anything at all to try and bring about some sort of change in

the workmans comp system, so that even if I do wind up on the short end of

the stick.....maybe I can find some way to try and make sure that some other

poor schmuck doesn't get shafted next...?

How would one start anykind of dialogue?......Maybe writing to state

representatives?? Or do they even really care? I know there are good people

in politics, but there are also a lot of them who are out soley for their own

benefit or whatever...and how would one little guy get any attention, when

they are besieged everyday by bigger interests with money who want their time

and attention??

Somebody needs to stand up for people who get left on the roadside by

ANYBODY...wether it be workmans comp or their insurance carrier, or even the

many sad stories (one of which I have actually experienced myself) of

unsympathetic and uncaring physicians.....

As someone else said " These people do not live in our bodies.....WE

do... " .........dammitt!!!!!

I feel fairly certain that I will find some way to survive. All I am

asking is for fairness after what amounted to a career ending work related

injury.....that's all.

I love America, and have served in the military....but the sad fact is

that I bet most of the truly sad stories come from regular folks.....the

workaday average Joe.... (or Joann)....For, unfortunately, it IS all about

money. People who are wealthy can afford treatments that others cannot, and

often have connections and have no problems securing pain relief medications,

etc.

I thank God that my personal doctor is such a compassionate human

being, and I do not have the problem of not having any means at all to combat

the pain.....but I also know if I were Jordan or any other big name

athlete or well known, and wealthy person, I woldn;'t be sitting here on my

butt waiting for the workmans comp insurance carrier to have their little

peeing contest with my neuro doctor.

THEY sent me to a real JERK who did nothing except belittle me as MY

MRI's were not nearly as bad as some of his " really screwed up "

patients....and this Jerk saw me for 10 minutes and made me feel like I was

not even worthy of being in his office, and in fact in almost those exact

words, said so....and he wants me to have a discogram, and if I choose NOT to

have that, then I am at MMI....period.

Contrast that with my neuro doc that I've been seeing since last May.

He says that discograms are something he USED to do a lot of, but that

nowdays with the excellent information available on MRIs, there is no longer

any need to put people through such painful tests, and does not think one is

needed.

He has tried many things, and is a compasionate human being and well

respected as among the very best at what he does....and he wants me to have a

6 week period now of PT/Rehab/back strengthening sessions, and the insurance

company is claiming this man is dragging his feet. AMAZING!!!!

..... As though I have a cold or something that I am supposed to get

over in a certain period of time. My opinion which I voiced to the new

manager of my case, is that unlike her common aches and pains, back problems

are often difficult to figure out and or treat, and that we have been trying

things all along.....steroids.....camp corsett.....epidural

injections.....TENS unit....Vioxx.....etc..and that I think it just takes

time to see which things, if any, have a positive effect, and that he is

simply being a competent and thourough physician.

And although they keep throwing it in my face that 3 neurosurgeons

have said that my problem is not bad enough to require surgery.....I truly

think that my present neuro doc is wanting to try this one last " passive "

thing before contemplating any kind of surgical intervention, and is in fact

going to a big seminar in February soley about that issue..... " At what point

do you intervene with a person who has had chronic back pain for an extended

period of time and who has been thought not to be surgically indicated " ?

Alas, poor Yourik....by Feb, I will already be screwed I

imagine....but it would be nice to hear what they come up with.

I am on the verge of considering getting an attourney, but I have

never been a big fan of attourneys either......and can already see me winding

up actually with less money in the end after the attourneys take thier

cut......so maybe I should just avoid that route,,,and just bend over and get

it over with......I dunno.....

At any rate, as I said, I would be very interested if anyone out there

has any knowledge of how to be any kind of advocate for people who get caught

in the cogs of the system...and maybe work for changes to be made. People's

LIVES are hanging in the balance while others dictate what happens to you, or

sit in their Ivory Towers and are smug and uncaring, as they don't have to

deal with the pain, or worry about how they are going to survive....

It's a sad state of affairs, is all I can say.

Thanks for letting me blow off some steam.

Mark