Articles Posted in Workers’ Compensation

If you work in the healthcare industry, you face dangers on the job every single day. Whether you are a nurse, doctor, or first responder, your job often requires you to perform extremely physical tasks. The stress and repetitive nature of this can really impact your body and well-being. At Mass Injury Group, our Boston work injury lawyers assist individuals who have been hurt at work with understanding their rights to compensation. You do not have to navigate the Massachusetts workers’ compensation system alone. Let us help you during this stressful time.

Recently, the Massachusetts Court of Appeal issued an opinion in a case where a nurse who was injured multiple times throughout her career filed a claim for benefits. One of these injuries included an injury to her back that she suffered when she was trying to assist a 350-pound patient with getting into a vehicle. She also had two auto accidents during her career and was treated for both of them. In 2011, she suffered her final work-related injury. She was helping a 400-pound patient when the injury happened. Although she returned to work the next day, she eventually decided to take a leave of absence because the pain was so severe.

The nurse filed a claim seeking workers’ compensation benefits. The insurer denied the claim on the basis that there was no causal relationship between her injuries and her job, her disability, and more. The judge assigned to her claim awarded her temporary benefits and payments to cover her medical expenses. The parties attended another hearing, and the court awarded the nurse another series of benefit payments. The insurance company for her employer appealed this award and asserted the same defenses to her claim.

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Any work-related injury can be a painful and stressful event for the victim. When the injury also leaves the victim with unfortunate scars or disfigurement, however, the life-long impact is devastating. At Mass Injury Group, our Boston work injury lawyers are prepared to help you fight for the benefits and medical expense payments that you deserve after you were hurt on the job. The workers’ compensations system in Massachusetts can be incredibly overwhelming and difficult to navigate. Consult with one of our attorneys soon to make sure that you are protecting your rights.

In a recent appellate opinion, the Massachusetts Court of Appeal discussed a case involving an employee who suffered a permanent limp as the result of a work injury. The plaintiff filed a claim for workers’ compensation benefits and the judge awarded him over $8,000 for the disfigurement that he suffered due to the limp. The parties both appealed this award. The worker was required to undergo a medical examination from an independent medical examiner, who also prepared a report. The report did not mention anything about the limp but instead stated that the employee did not walk with any kind of obvious limp. The insurance company withdrew its appeal and the only issue left was how much compensation the employee was owed.

But at the hearing to determine compensation, the court concluded that the employee was walking with a limp. When the employee provide testimony, the judge also found him credible regarding the limp that he experienced. The judge also found the insurer’s witness credible, a person who conducted surveillance on the employee, who confirmed that the employee had a limp. After this hearing and taking all evidence into consideration, the court concluded that the employee was entitled to nearly $11,000 in damages for the limp. The judge multiplied the state’s average weekly wage allotment by 10 and considered this to be in the middle range of awards for the disfigurement.

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Getting hurt on the job is a terrifying experience. While you are wondering whether your injuries are permanent, you are probably also wondering whether you are still going to be able to pay the bills as you focus on healing. If your injuries are permanent or long-lasting, you could feel the financial effects of the accident for months or even years to come. At Mass Injury Group, our Boston workers’ compensation lawyers are prepared to help you evaluate your potential claim. There are countless rules and steps that you must take before you are awarded benefits and insurance companies don’t always play fair. Call us today to start protecting your rights.

Recently, the Massachusetts Court of Appeal issued an opinion in a case involving the role of surveillance footage of the injured worker in question. There are many instances where an insurance company will retain a private investigator to follow an injured worker and document them in their daily life to see whether they are really injured or to gauge the extent of their injuries. In the case, the appellate court upheld the lower court’s award of benefits based on surveillance footage that depicted the injured employee out fishing after the work-related accident.

The employee underwent an examination with an independent medical examiner who initially concluded that the worker could still work on a part-time schedule. Video surveillance from the insurance company, however, showed the employee fishing. This made the independent medical examiner change his opinion about the impact of the accident on the employee’s ability to work. The examiner testified after watching the video that the worker should be able to sit and stand for as long as six hours and that he was probably able to work for 30 hours each week. The judge accepted this testimony and awarded medical benefits based on it.

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If you are hurt on the job, Massachusetts’ workers’ compensation laws are designed to provide you with financial support for your missed wages and medical bills. Unfortunately, workers’ compensation insurance companies often try to avoid paying benefits to injured workers based on a variety of defenses. In some situations, for example, the insurance company for your employer may try to avoid paying for certain expenses on the basis that the injury was not part of your work-related accident. The dedicated Boston workers’ compensation lawyers at Mass Injury Group are standing by to help you protect your rights.

A recent claim dispute highlights how insurers sometimes try to avoid paying benefits. The employee was hurt when he fell backward out of his delivery truck. he suffered injuries to his head, shoulder, and elbow that prevented him from returning to work. He filed a claim and received temporary incapacity benefits for his injury. The insurance company filed a claim to modify or discontinue the benefits that the employee was receiving. In support of this request, it included a copy of a report from an independent medical examiner who had examined the employee. The judge, however, concluded that the employee was suffering a temporary total disability as a result of the fall and awarded benefits.

The workers’ compensation insurance carrier appealed this decision. It first argued that the judge should not have relied on aspects of the report that made a temporal connection between the fall and the injury that the employee suffered. The appellate court did not agree, however, and instead concluded that there was enough information to show that the employee had suffered post-traumatic head pain, causalgia, post-concussion syndrome, and other injuries as a direct result of falling out of his delivery truck. The employee had also offered testimony at trial about his issues with memory loss, inability to focus, vertigo, and more. This testimony matched up with what the doctor wrote in the report.

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In a workers’ compensation claim, evidence plays an important role. There are many different types of evidence that can be considered, including doctor’s exams and testimony from the injured worker. This information is used to help the judge assigned to your claim to determine whether you are entitled to benefits and the amount of benefits that you should receive. Although this sounds straightforward, there are often disputes about the types of evidence that a judge should consider and whether the judge had enough evidence to support his or her final ruling. The Boston workers’ compensation lawyers at Mass Injury Group are available to assist you with learning more about the claims process and whether you are entitled to compensation.

In a recent case, the Massachusetts Court of Appeal was asked to evaluate a claim in which the injured worker suffered an elbow injury while working as a flight attendant. She was unable to work in a full-time capacity for 18 months. At that time, she stopped working due to the pain. She filed a claim for medical expenses reimbursements, but the insurance carrier for the airline denied on the basis that there was an issue with causation. The insurer argued that the medical treatment and elbow injury were not directly related to her job duties as a flight attendant. The judge presiding over the claim disagreed with the insurer and ordered it to pay for the medical treatment. The insurer appealed.

As part of the process, the worker was required to undergo a medical examination from a neutral doctor. The insurer then accepted liability for the accident. The doctor stated in the resulting report that the worker was suffering from the aggravation of an underlying degenerative disk disease as well as other injuries and symptoms. The report noted that the repetitive tasks that the worker performed were the entire cause of some of the medical issues that the worker was experiencing.

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If you suffer an injury at work, you may be given prescriptions for different medications to help you recover and to treat your conditions. The workers’ compensation system in Massachusetts is designed to give employees who are injured on the job weekly benefits to cover their missed wages as well as reimbursements for medical expenses related to their work injury. Even though this mandate is clear, many insurance companies try to deny claims for medical expense reimbursements. The seasoned Boston workers’ compensation lawyers at Mass Injury Group are ready to help you fight for the fair treatment that you deserve.

A Massachusetts Court of Appeal recently considered a matter in which the insurance company was appealing from a lower court order stating that it was required to pay benefits and medical expense reimbursements. The medical prescriptions included ibuprofen and Topamax. According to the insurance company, the lower court judge did not appropriately evaluate whether there was a causal connection between the treatment prescribed and the alleged work injury. It also alleged that the lower court judge did not correctly characterize evidence offered at the hearing about whether the worker was obese.

The worker suffered an injury while he was at his company’s cookout party where he slipped and injured his left knee. Although he was willing to continue working and tried to do so, he was eventually forced to stop. He ended up undergoing a number of surgeries to his ankle and knee. The insurer argued that the employee’s obesity should be viewed as a pre-existing condition. The lower court eventually awarded benefits and medical reimbursements to the employee. The insurer appealed.

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There are many steps to recovering workers’ compensation benefits and each one is important. One of these steps involves calculating the average amount of weekly wages that the injured worker earned. This calculation is then used to determine the amount of benefit payments that the worker will receive under the Massachusetts workers’ compensation system. If your average weekly wage is calculated incorrectly, you may find yourself receiving a much smaller benefits payment than what you are actually entitled to receive. At Mass Injury Group, our seasoned team of Boston workers’ compensation lawyers is prepared to help you ensure that you receive the fair outcome that you deserve.

In a recent claim, a Massachusetts Court of Appeal considered a challenge to whether an average weekly wage was calculated correctly. The employee appealed a ruling after a hearing that required the Workers’ Compensation Trust Fund to provide weekly benefit payments to the worker in the amount of $301.37, based on an average weekly wage calculation of $502.28. The worker filed a claim for benefits after suffering an injury while working as a painter. He painted houses during the warm months constituting roughly six months and was employed simultaneously as a worker at a restaurant. The employee challenged the order on the basis that the judge did not perform the average weekly wage calculation correctly.

The parties entered into a number of stipulations regarding the claim, including a stipulation that the employee was employed concurrently at the restaurant job performing 15 hours of work and earning roughly $226 weekly. During the hearing, the judge calculated the worker’s average weekly wage for his painting job by dividing the amount he earned over a 52-week period instead of only dividing it over a six-month period constituting the time that he actually worked.

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If you were injured on the job, the workers’ compensation system in Massachusetts is designed to help provide you with financial support so that you can cope. The benefits are only available if the injury occurred during the course and scope of the employee’s work responsibilities. This raises issues about some of the aspects of working, including going to and from work. One of the biggest disputes that an insurer will raise in some claims involves injuries that happen when an employee is coming or going from work. The seasoned team of Boston workers’ compensation lawyers at Mass Injury Group are prepared to assist you with ensuring that you receive the benefits that you deserve after an on-the-job accident.

In a recent benefits claim, the Massachusetts Court of Appeal was asked to consider the application of the “going and coming doctrine.” In the claim, the worker was employed as a psychiatric nurse when the injury happened. She was living in Massachusetts and was asked by her employer to perform her job at a treatment facility located in Vermont. After each shift totaling five days, she would drive back home. The worker did not ask for travel expenses reimbursement. She said that she did not understand the policy and that she was not required to submit her expenses.

The employee was involved in a car crash while driving back to Massachusetts after a shift. It required substantial rehabilitation and multiple surgeries to address. The insurer objected to her claim for workers’ compensation benefits, arguing that she was not working when the crash took place and therefore it was not a work-related injury. The presiding judge rejected this position and deemed the employer liable for her injuries under workers’ compensation. The insurer filed an appeal, stating that the presiding judge erred in applying the going and coming doctrine to this case.

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A work injury can take on various forms. It can be a temporary injury that heals after appropriate treatment and rest or it can be a life-changing injury that leads to a long-term or permanent disability. Regardless of the extent of the injury that you suffer, you may be entitled to compensation through the workers’ compensation system in Massachusetts. The benefits and medical reimbursements are meant to help you cope with the impact of your work-related injury and to ensure that you receive the medical care that you need and deserve. As seasoned Boston workers’ compensation lawyers, Mass Injury Group is available to assist you with exploring your legal rights and options.

In a recent workers’ compensation claim in Massachusetts, a worker suffered traumatic injuries while on the job as an aid in a psychiatric facility. A patient of the facility attacked him resulting in loss of consciousness. The man received medical treatment for an extensive list of injuries including a fractured right leg, deep vein thrombosis, instability, and chronic pain. The employee sought benefits and filed a claim. The judge awarded benefits initially and noted in the award that the worker suffered from a number of pre-existing conditions but that they were not affected by the work-related accident. Some of these pre-existing injuries included degenerative arthritis in his spine.

Sometime thereafter, the employee filed another claim seeking more benefits related to the attack. The judge determined that the worker was permanently and totally disabled as a result of the attack. The evidence showed that the worker could not take care of himself or complete daily tasks at home without assistance. In this order, the judge maintained the position that the pre-existing back injury did not impact the new work-related injury in any manner.

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There are usually a number of injuries involved in a workers’ compensation case. It is rare for only one body part to be affected. This can make it difficult to determine the amount of benefits that the injured worker should receive. In some cases, the employee may need to pursue several claims for benefits relating to each of the injuries that he or she has suffered, or when one of the injuries worsens. The seasoned Boston workers’ compensation lawyers at Mass Injury Group have handled a wide variety of work injury benefit claims and are prepared to assist you with ensuring that you receive the full amount of benefits that you deserve under the law.

Recently, a Massachusetts Court of Appeal opinion addressed an appeal where the injured worker had filed six separate claims for benefits relating to a complex history of injuries. The worker was appealing an award of partial incapacity benefits related to a left ulnar neuropathy injury that she sustained while on the job in 2007 along with medical expense reimbursements related to treatment for the injury. She also suffered from spinal injuries related to the same occupation. In her appeal, the worker alleged that the judge made inconsistent findings regarding the nature and scope of her injuries and that the judge did not make a comprehensive assessment of the evidence that was provided at the benefits hearing.

On review, the appellate court agreed with the worker, concluding that the lower court judge did base the award of partial benefits on ultimate conclusions or medical opinions from an expert witness who provided testimony at the hearing. The final opinion that the judge issued lacked any reference of ultimate medical conclusions or the expert’s testimony describing the worker’s fibromyalgia condition.

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