I work in public safety and have had several lumbar injuries over the course of the last 10 years, all approved by WC. Recently I suffered a...

Question

I work in public safety and have had several lumbar injuries over the course of the last 10 years, all approved by WC. Recently I suffered another injury to my back, which has also been approved by comp, but I was accused by a supervisor of "faking" the Injury. I have an MRI done by my PMD (non work comp) that shows several bulges and stenosis which I believe may be causing the onset of severe numbness and weakness to one of my extremities.

My question is first off, for my appointment with the comp doctor,

Should I bring the MRI and discuss previous treatment?

Secondly, is there any avenue for handling mistreatment of an employee or alleging an individual falsified a comp claim?

Answer

1. DISCUSS ALL PREVIOUS TREATMENT, INDUSTRIAL AND NON-INDUSTRIAL: at ANY physician appointment, be prepared to deliver a very PROMPT but accurate injury history. You leave out an injury, that's a false history and makes the physician's report inadmissible to prove you need medications or time off to recover. IF THAT PHYSICIAN's staff says to bring the MRI, then bring it... if that physician does not have the computer software to get the images off that disc he make decline it.

2. MISTREATMENT BY SUPERVISOR: there is nothing in the Labor Code that says the supervisor cannot express his opinion that your complaints are not work-related. You have zero rights in the Labor Code to be treated the way you wish to be treated. If you are going to the "comp doctor" this signifies the injury is -- for now-- an accepted injury and the comp insurance company is paying for treatment, so a supervisor's uneducated opinion on medical causation is just not important or admissible.