• 20
  • January
    2012

A workers' compensation case making news out of Arkansas highlights several noteworthy points about the safety net that is operative in every state for employees who are injured while working on the job

The workers' comp program -- from New York to California and encompassing all other states, as well -- is intended to provide for the medical care and lost compensation of employees who sustain an on-the-job injury that precludes them from working for a period of time thereafter.

As we have noted in past blog posts, workers' comp, while similar everywhere in its underlying design and rationale, comes with great variance and singular tweaks among the states. New York has made significant changes -- not worker friendly -- to its regime in recent years.

The Arkansas case strongly speaks to the need of an injured claimant to secure knowledgeable and diligent representation from an experienced workers' compensation attorney.

A woman there was already receiving compensation, and she changed her doctor last year. Following his sudden death, she sought a new physician, but was unable to secure one owing to the state's "change of physician" rule that precludes a recipient from changing a doctor more than once.

Thus, she is in limbo currently, on workers' comp, yet unable to secure another doctor through no fault of her own.

The state acknowledges though a spokesman the "administrative impediments" and tacitly, the illogic of a person injured and receiving benefits and without the ability to see a medical professional.

"We are constrained by law," states a letter the woman received from Arkansas' Workers' Compensation Commission.

So, the woman waits, with the commission telling her that, although it might be able to resolve her matter, doing so "could take six months."

Source: Today's THV, "Workers' comp won't allow Lauren Eason a new doctor, even after hers dies" Matt Buhrman, Jan. 11, 2012