Most work-related injuries are pretty minor, and often you are able to return to your usual job in a few days or weeks. Of course, when you are hurt, it helps to know that your employer's workers' comp insurance will cover your medical bills and give you some time off to recover. In general, it can be said that workers' comp is primarily meant to be a short-term solution to a work-related injury. Not all injuries are minor, unfortunately. When your injury turns out to be more serious, your workers' comp claim should reflect the greater extent of your medical problem and account for the potential of not being able to ever to return to your job. Read on to learn more about how workers' comp handles long-term injuries.

What Can A More Serious Injury Mean?

Some injuries are so severe and obvious, you know immediately that you are not dealing with a normal situation. For example, injuries that involve spinal paralysis, burns, amputations, etc. are clearly permanent injuries that will interfere with your ability to earn a living for a long time. Other injuries may also be deemed permanent at some point, but only after you have been examined by an independent workers' comp doctor. Some of these types of injuries that prove stubborn are back injuries, head injuries, and repetitive stress injuries.

The Independent Medical Exam

If your injury is not healing as expected, you will be asked to undergo an exam given by a doctor of the workers' comp choosing. This is not an ordinary exam; your ability to continue to get workers' comp benefits in on the line and this doctor's opinion could mean that your benefits are ending. This exam, called the independent medical exam, is meant to give the insurance carrier in-depth information about your injury and to evaluate the potential for you to return to work. This exam is free of charge and will consist of the doctor paying close attention to the injured area. Diagnostic tests may also be performed.

The Ruling

If your doctor thinks that you can return to work, you must do so or risk losing your job. If you believe that your injury is not healed enough, you may be able to appeal with a ruling, but you also may need the help of a workers' comp attorney to assist in getting your benefits reinstated.

If the doctor decides that your injury is permanent, your benefits will morph into a settlement. The negotiations for this settlement are very important, given that you may be needing enough money to get you through until your retirement age. Have a workers' comp attorney handle this claim for you so that you'll get the compensation package you need and deserve.

Contact a company like Haskin & Associates LLC for more information and assistance. 

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