Texas Workers Compensation Attorney Showed How Old Injuries Heal, New Injuries Occur
For any worker injured on the job, there is often a certain “point” in time where the injury became unbearable. Consulting with an experienced Texas worker compensation attorney in these cases often reveal a gradual decline in the health of an employee’s back. In these back cases, employers (or in the following two cases, insurance companies) may try to avoid paying comp awards for inconsistent reasons. Yet, an experienced Texas Workers Compensation attorney explained in both of these very different (and yet very similar) cases just how common the causes were…both injured workers were made suddenly aware of their injury, by a “popping” sensation along their spines. In the process, the Texas workers compensation attorney also proved the insurance companies were undeniably liable for comp payments.
Texas Workers Compensation Attorney Showed Back Injury From Collapsing Chair
In the first case, the evidence by the Texas workers compensation attorney showed the injured worker believed she had hurt her low back, when she fell backwards, along with her chair back. Regarding the cause, or mechanics, of her injury, the injured worker testified to her Texas workers compensation attorney, saying “I suddenly fell backwards… and my head ‘popped’ or snapped when the back of my chair gave way to a full recline.” Detailing the physical injury, the medical evidence introduced by the Texas workers compensation attorney also showed an injury to the worker’s lower back. The evidence between the two sides, said the Texas workers compensation attorney, was only slightly in conflict. The insurance company argued that the “mechanics” of the injury were “impossible,” noted the Texas workers compensation attorney. The insurance company brought two witnesses to testify as to the engineering of the chair. The Texas workers compensation attorney quickly, and successfully, challenged their testimony that the chair could not have reclined the way the worker said. Crucially, the Texas workers compensation attorney used medical evidence to show the injury was consistent with what the worker had described.
Following this convincing evidence by the Texas workers compensation attorney, the hearing officer agreed the injured worker had been disabled by the collapsing chair. The insurance company tried an appeal. Yet, the only argument the insurance company made on appeal was that this long period of disability for “such” a back injury was (somehow) “far too long,” noted the Texas workers compensation attorney. The Appeals Panel agreed with the Texas workers compensation attorney, and the award was upheld.
Texas Workers Compensation Attorney Proved New (But “Nearly Identical”) Injury To Worker’s Back
The issues in another back-injury case were also about whether the injured worker had “really” hurt his back…or if it was the result of an old injury. The injured worker testified to his Texas workers compensation attorney that he had hurt his back when he jumped off a trailer and “I felt a pop in my back.” The injured worker told the Texas workers compensation attorney how he had at first seen Dr. A the very next day. When he was getting no better, explained the Texas workers compensation attorney, the worker later changed to Dr. B as his treating doctor for back treatment. The injured worker, showed the Texas workers compensation attorney, hadn’t worked since the injury. The injured worker told the Texas workers compensation attorney that after a 2008 injury, he had pain in his back and right shin. The injured worker told the Texas workers compensation attorney about the differences in the pain between the two accidents. The worker told the Texas workers compensation attorney that after the “new” injury, the pain went down his left side, through his buttocks and into his leg. He also testified to the Texas workers compensation attorney about “numbness I’d never had, in my toes, of my left foot.”
The Texas workers compensation attorney conceded the fact that the MRI findings were basically the same in 2008 and 2010. But, emphasized the Texas workers compensation attorney, this did not mean that the injured worker could not have had a new injury. Instead, the Texas workers compensation attorney showed the worker had been reported as “fully recovered” from the 2008 injury. The Appeals Panel agreed with the Texas workers compensation attorney…the injured worker had a new covered injury.
Back injuries, as these two separate cases show, can have many different apparent triggers. The complications of back conditions are among the reasons to work only with an experienced Texas workers compensation attorney.