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North Alabama Workers and Extreme Heat: Safety Duties, Workers’ Compensation and Third-Party Claims

Workers Compensation Medical Records

The Alabama Court of Civil Appeals has released an opinion dealing with medical records in relation to on the job injuries. This opinion over ruled a trial court’s determination that a worker suffer an on the job injury. This is unusual because the Appellate Courts generally recognize that a trial court is the best position to see,hear and evaluate a witness. The Court based its opinion in large measure on the medical records of the injured worker which did not reflect that the treatment was the result on an on the job injury.

The medical record in the personal on the job injury reflected that the injury preceded the date given by the worker. The worker lost his right to have his medical bills paid and compensation for his work injuries because of the disputed accuracy of the injured workers medical records.

Jurors, like judges, want to see consistency in the medical records. With the many cases we see here at McCutcheon and Hamner,these are two(2) major problems we encounter with medical record keeping.

First, doctors and nurses are busy. The demand for their time is relentless. The reason doctors and nurses are doctors and nurses is to help give comfort, aid, and appropriate medical treatment for the healing of their patients. People in the medical professions want to treat illness and injuries. The ability for them to understand and write down how an injury occured is limited by the patient’s ability to state when, where and how the accident or injury happened. Understandably, when someone is hurt that is more important than how they were hurt. Understandably, when someone is hurt their ability to give an accurate history of that injury is limited. Too bad that defense lawyers prey upon this fact every time they can.

Second, there is a new legal mandate for electronic medical records. This causes doctors and nurses to be more prone to check a box that is already provided than to write down the ins and out of how and accident or injury occured. You end up with a medical record that focuses on the major complaint but may leave out secondary complaints that prove to be more persistant than the original complaint. The fact is that if you are bleeding, that is more important at the time than the fact that your shoulder hurts. However, if you later need shoulder surgury be prepared to be called a liar by the insurance company lawyer.

If you are hurt or injured through someone’s negligence or through an on the job accident or injury, make certain that your medical records are accurate. If you are in doubt, call McCutcheon and Hamner (or another law firm that practices personal injury litigation) and we will talk with you about your workplace accident injury case at no charge. We will advise you on whether you have a case and whether we would take it and if not, why not. If we do take your work place accident injury case, we will obtain your medical records and call to your attention any potential errors that may exist so that problems may be avoided.

Reporting Injuries On The Job

McCutcheon and Hamner represents people who are injured on-the-job, which is commonly referred to as workers compensation cases. Our attorneys have been honored to teach portions of workers compensation law to other lawyers for the Alabama bar Institute for Continuing legal Education. The experienced attorneys with McCutcheon and Hamner have handled hundreds of workers compensation cases at every level from settlement through trial and appeal.

The law limits the fees charged by lawyers to 15% in workers compensation cases and the attorneys who defend these cases are specialists by and large within the law who largely limit their practice to defending insurance companies in workers compensation cases.

mcCutcheon and Hamner works on workers compensation cases every day. We talk to numerous people who have potential workers compensation cases each week. We always want good workers compensation cases.

The single largest factor that makes an otherwise good case a bad case is the natural reluctance of an injured worker to report an on-the-job injury. When you add that reluctance to an employer’s reluctance to learn of an on-the-job injury, you have created a situation where injury cases go unreported. Somtimes they are reported and no record of the injury was made and the employer later denies that the accident happened. Often workers try and tough it out and end up hurt worse worse than they thought and no way to get the help they need. Workers compensation insurance does not have to pay for an unreported injury and personal health insurance does not have to pay for an on-the-job injury.

Not only must the work injury be reported,but the courts tend to look at the description of the injury as contained in medical records. So, if an on-the-job injury occurs, the injured worker needs to tell every healthcare provider of the details of the on-the-job injury. The state of Alabama law specifies in Code of Alabama 25-5-78 that in Alabama that the injury event requires notice within 5 days in writing and in no event later than 90 days after the date of the accident. Written notice is not required where the employer has actual knowledge of the accident. Oral notice of the accident injury is sufficient if in a timely manner is given to the right person.

We see on-the-job accident reporting problems far too often in our office. If you or a loved one gets hurt on the job have them contact an experienced workers compensation attorney.

McCutcheon & Hamner concentrates on accident and injury law. If someone gets hurt on the job,we want the case. If you are injured and do not choose our law firm, make sure you choose an attorney who has knowledge and experience in the law.