Edelstein Payne North Carolina Workers Compensation Injured Worker Tips

https://raleighworkerscompensation.com Does NC Workers' Compensation law require injuries be caused by an Accident?  NC Workers' Compensation law does require most injuries on the job to be caused by an accident. Working people in North Carolina assume that when they get hurt on the job they will be covered by workers' compensation.  They fill out an accident report.  Unfortunately, they do not understand that for most injuries on the job, the North Carolina workers' compensation law requires that the injury be caused by an accident. Claims adjusters for insurance companies will say, "Slip, Trip or Fall".  In fact there are other things that amount that amount to accidents that could be used to make an injury compensable under the law.  But one thing that happens after you file your accident report, almost always a claims adjuster from an insurance company will call you, and may take a recorded statement.  The claims adjuster will ask a series of qu...

https://raleighworkerscompensation.com I was hurt at work, should I sign the medical release document the insurance company sent?  If you were hurt at work  DO NOT Sign the Medical Release form the Insurance company sends you: If you are injured on the job, and file an accident report, you will almost certainly receive some correspondence from a claims adjuster for the workers' compensation insurance company.  Usually, along with that correspondence will be a medical release that they request you sign.  They will tell you that you have to sign it so they can investigate your claim.  Medical releases that come from the insurance company are very sweeping.  They allow the claims adjuster to obtain any of your medical records literally dating back to the date of your birth.  More importantly it allows the claims adjuster or representatives of your employer to talk to your doctors without you knowing it.   There is no requirement for you to sign...

https://raleighworkerscompensation.com/ DO NOT SPEAK WITH COMPANY INSURANCE REP PRIOR TO A COMP LAWYER: Here's a real world tip for injured workers.  The truth is stranger than fiction. To illustrate the requirement for an injury by accident , I want to use an actual situation.  I was contacted by a firefighter.  At the end of his shift, he realized he had left some gear on the top of the rear of the fire truck. He went up the ladder at the rear of the truck.  Came down the ladder which ends about 30 inches off the ground.  He jumps down, and immediately feels pain in his left knee.  He files the accident report.  About a day later, he gets interviewed by the claims adjuster.  She asks him, "How many times have you gone up and down that ladder?" (Probably thousands of times).  "What kind of surface was it that you landed on?" (Smooth concrete it was in the engine bay.)  "Were there any rocks or sand or sticks there?" (No)  "D...

https://raleighworkerscompensation.com DO NOT LET NURSE CASE MGR. MANIPULATE your DOCTOR's words. So if you are injured on your job, and have the misfortune to be hurt, and are seriously injured on your job, an injury which requires ongoing medical treatment, and causes you to be out of work for months at a time, it is quite likely that the insurance company will assign a nurse case manager to assist you with your medical treatment.  Those folks can be helpful in scheduling appointments and helping you get your prescription medications filled, and things of that nature.  On the other hand, you need to understand that those nurse case managers are paid for by the insurance companies, and are working to save the insurance company and or your employer money $.  That is, pay you less in your workers' compensation case.  You have the right when you go to your doctor that is treating you for your injury to have a private interview-discussion and examination.   Yo...