Others stories of the inappropriate handling of claims by the Dept. of L&I

Personal, Confidential information has been removed and minor grammer and / or spelling has been corrected. These stories are what happens in Washington State when you suffer an Industrial Injury.


Injury date 6-11-98 fell off chair onto cement floor

First MRI done was on 7-24-98 and the report states significant degeneration of the disc at L4-5 with circumferential disc bulge and some moderate extrusion. In addition to this she has mild to moderate right-sided L4-5 intervertebral foramina stenois. The combinination of the protruding disc as well as L4-5 neural foramina stenos is problem causing her intermittent I-5 radicullopathy.

Treatments
Lots of physical therapy
Meds
Epidural injections
Chiropractic treatment

IME panel agreed that I have a level 2 partial disability and with special equipment is fixed and stable and could go back to job of injury with moderation. Case closed 3-31-2000

In April 2000 I started to see doctors on my personal insurance. MD Doctor sends me to an orthopedic surgeon. Orthopedic Dr wants new MRI’s. New cervical MRI report states -she has cervical stenosid at disc degeneration on multiple levels. There is significant cord compression. Loss of cervical lord sis at C5-6 circumferential disc bulge He then orders a 2nd MRI of lumber spine. New lumber MRI -Dr states old MRI & new are reviewed and he reports there is degenerative cervical spine with degenerative changes L4-5.

Fixed and stable----- ha I only wish. I am in constant pain, have not worked since, I am almost divorcing, ruined my credit due to unpaid medical bills, employer at time of injury decided to Eliminate my position so no job, car got repo, power & phone are ready to be turned off, plus I expect an eviction notice, anyway now I do have an attorney but he is either gone, in court, or he states this will take time. I am lost.

Help me please,


September 16, 2002

I am writing in complaint of how my Labor & Industries claim has been handled since the beginning of my retraining. I am also sending copies to all listed below, in hopes that this doesn't get swept under the rug, and is paid full attention to. You will read, and have proof that my retraining should never have been approved. I am found unemployable in the computer maintenance job market, despite what the State of Washington has told me. You will see that certain important points were overlooked when it came to approving my retraining to be a Computer Technician. I know most of you are very busy with more important things that are going on in the world, but this really needs to be heard, and acted upon. I have done everything that was asked of me, since my claim was opened after my injury on October 20th 1997. The injury that took place should never have happened. It was due to an employer knowingly putting me in a dangerous position, and I am the one paying for it now. The Labor & Industries law needs to be changed, because it allows employers to put employees in unsafe and dangerous position, even life threatening. Initially there was no investigation done after my injury, (I had 3 fingers crushed off on a machine I had no experience operating) until I kept complaining to the state about what happened to me. They finally went in and found numerous violations, and fined LUCKS Company. But that will not stop employers from putting us in dangerous situations. The law basically says it's ok for employers to put employees in situations where they can be injured, and the employers don't have to worry if they get hurt. They are not found negligent for doing that to their employees. After all, we are all expendable; they just have to find someone else to fill our position. Please hear what I am saying, and read my complaint with concern. I have been wronged from the beginning, and wronged once again in the end, when I was supposed to be retrained to be able to regain employment.

Thank you,



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