Category Archives: workers comp

Workers’ Compensation affectionately referred to as “the system”

today sucks

2007.02.14 – 9:33 pm PST

the day wont end quick enough for me.
it feels like nothing was accomplished today.
the judge didnt read the pain management doctor’s report.
i still dont have vocational rehab.
i still have no psychological treatment.
im sick.
everytime i cough my neck pain goes through the roof, and symptoms of nerve pain drive through my arms.
im severely depressed still, if not worse by the events.
there is no progress.
my thoughts are dark, they run rampantly through my mind, and need to be extinguished like a wild fire.
today since the hearing, ive just been on the verge of crying my eyes out.
i cant take anymore of the feelings of pain, physically or emotionally.
i’m tired.
my feet are numb.
hello? i want help.
no.

that sums up the day.

[tags]workers compensation, thoughts, severely depressed, headache, tired, sick, valentines day[/tags]

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quickie update

2007.02.13 – 7:24 pm PST

I’ve been in California since Saturday night. Had the opportunity to see and hangout with some friends I haven’t seen in a while.
The doctors appointment I had on Monday went great. He wrote a STAT(not status) report, and I picked it up today, for my Valentines (Court) Date. His report was very good.
I went to bed last night feeling slightly under the weather, and this morning, woke up feeling like death.
That said this trip is going well so far. I have another appointment next month with the good Doctor, and treatment is in my future.
I would probably be more ecstatic about all this if I didnt have a cold/sinus thing going on. But I generally am susceptible to getting colds. I was hoping to hangout more with people, but I don’t feel that possibly getting anyone sick is a good thing.

I’ve also had my fill of sushi, and Vietnamese food. I went to this sushi place with my father, and an old work friend of his called Kura, in Costa Mesa, it was pretty neat environment, it has a rotating sushi bar, which revolves around the entire restaurant. I’ve also eaten a couple times at one of my favorite Pho places in Costa Mesa, Pho 99, that I eat at whenever I’m in town because one of the people who work there recognizes me each time, which you do not see very often in employees working in the food industry.

ok, why does a “quickie” update, usually turn into a longer post? I had just a few thoughts I wanted to jot down, but felt compelled to write a little bit more.

2 nights, and ~1 day left in California, then the trek back home. Maybe another post or two before I leave…

[tags]travel, California, orange county, doctors, workers compensation, treatment, sick, cold, sinus, food, Vietnamese, sushi, pho 99, kura, Costa Mesa[/tags]

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For the first time in many years I got a date on Valentine’s Day.

2007.01.29 – 10:28 pm PST

I have a shitty headache at the moment, so I’ll try to say this quickly.

It’s a group date, just me and a few people.
It’s not what I would call a romantic thing although it is a hate filled relationship.
I want to feel better, but they just hate me, so I hate them back.
We all know love and hate, are similar emotions.
I get to go before a Judge again concerning my Workers Comp issues.
I went before a Judge ~6-7 months ago. Noticeably not a lot has changed or progressed.
I still feel trapped and betrayed by the insurance company, and the system itself. For me time goes by in weeks, and months, not days anymore. Everyday I wake up with a headache, or in some kind of pain. I’m tired.

I hate traveling, its painful. Hopefully a lot will be accomplished during this trip. Having to go to California is expensive, between travel expenses, dog boarding, hotel/motel, and also car rental. I honestly think it would be more efficient for me to live in California.

OK, that’s enough before I just start rambling, and make failed attempts at any more humor.

“It is the heart of our nature to feel pain and joy, it is an essential part that makes us what we are.”

-captain picard. “The Bonding”

[tags]california, valentines day, travel, workers comp, judge, pain, star trek TNG, quote[/tags]

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Workers’ Compensation Dreamin’

2006.12.29 – 7:13 am PST

It’s all too often that I am unable to sleep, sometimes for days on end. There are only two days left of 2006. This time in my state of being awake, and looking at my logs for referrers I’ve come across some more interesting stuff to process. The lack of required mental health care and physical treatment has left me altered to say the least. I am emotionally unstable, I cry almost daily, and days I don’t I hold back my tears some how. I write in a blog because it is MY outlet. I don’t have a professional to talk to regularly anymore and this feels like the healthy thing to do. I honestly feel homicidal at times, and suicidal the rest of the time, again I fight my urges, feeling exhausted. I didn’t used to feel this way, I feel the medications that were last prescribed to me had a huge effect on this. You may have heard of it, Cymbalta. But I will get into that later.

Click to continue reading “Workers’ Compensation Dreamin’”

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Twas the night before Christmas

2006.12.24 – 9:14 pm PST

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Nothing was stirring, but my keypad and mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that a SCIF email should have be there.

The injured worker unable to sleep sound in his bed,
While visions of required treatments danced in his head.
And father in his ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I hobbled in pain,
Tore open the shutters and threw up again.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the luster of mid-day to objects below.
After months of delay, and years of deceit,
What arrived next was the postal receipts.

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be Postal guy Nick.
More rapid than eagles the vultures they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

“Now Donovan! now, Dino! now, Sanchez, and McCall!
On, Margret! On, Philip! I can’t name them all!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”

The injured worker cramped in a plane headed off to fly,
he kept meeting obstacles, and mounted to the sky.
So up to Orange County the pilots they flew,
With the documents, bad memories and had been lied to.

Restless and waiting, I heard on the roof
The bad faith musings of each little goof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney the Judge came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
Previous rulings he’d made have been ignored by SCIF
And now the injured worker pays for their mischief.

His rulings were just! his smile how merry!
Why shouldn’t the injured worker believe in his theory
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And again I have to write my name the snow.

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And here I am now, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his works,
He ruled on my cases now get to work you jerks.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Your settlement will be fair, and all will be right!”

[tags]workers compensation, SCIF, email, humor, personal, twas the night before christmas, personal, thoughts, little goof, twas the night, night before christmas, stockings were hung, bad faith, holiday, christmas, pain[/tags]

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Google Health

2006.11.30 – 4:19 pm PST

[mood] I’m pissed off.[/mood]

In today’s Google blog post, Google VP, Adam Bosworth touches on something I have been fighting with.

The system didn’t fail completely, but struggled with these phases:

* What was wrong — it took her doctors nine months to correctly identify an illness which had classic symptoms
* Who should treat her — there was no easy way to figure out who were the best local physicians and caregivers, which ones were covered by her insurance, and how we could get them to agree to treat her
* Once she was treated, she had a chronic illness, and needed ongoing care and coordinated nursing and monitoring, particularly once her illness recurred

The Workers Compensation system is severely broken. I don’t know how many times I’ve said this, thought this, or blogged about it.

With properly managed information resources things should get better for the patients, and easier for the Doctors to use. The Insurance company, SCIF, likes to “loose” important documents throughout the course of my 5+ year long case. They like to delay things by months.

The rules of communications too are antiquated.
Some of the reports, requests, and other pages in my medical file are of such poor quality it’s next to impossible to read them, and I cannot even request clean copies from the sources themselves.

I should be able to communicate and receive information from my Doctors, and be able to provide them with feedback, and corrected information.

I want treatment for my chronic illness, and pain. Being forced to live in another state where no one is willing to treat me is outrageous. SCIF is all to happy to send you to their Doctors, where suddenly nothing is wrong with you, and your not allowed to view medical reports about yourself. Reports, that I have fought to see, contained information stating needs for further medical treatment, which go unseen. You have to fight every battle to get something accomplished. This has just become detrimental to my mental health.

Open your fucking eyes.

Well on the positive side of things, Google is dreaming up ideas to help patients.
Hey Google, how about you help me organize, catalog, and document my medical file? It’s sitting across the room in boxes. I’d like to be able to search and find information contained in it easily. The insurance company has document imaging capabilities like this, and they still manage to loose my documents.

why shouldn’t I have the same resources they have? I am just a peon compared to their large stature.

I am representing myself with the help of my father, who is not a lawyer. Shouldn’t there be a level playing field?

[tags]workers_compensation, WC, Google, ranting, delays, idea, document_imaging,insurance_company, pissed_off, health_care, insurance_company, medical_treatment, ongoing_care, fight_every_battle [/tags]

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workers compensation.

2006.10.24 – 9:04 pm PDT

So I’m writing a letter to SCIF, and suddenly decied to do a quick search for information, and lookie what came about below.  from Los Angeles Times only a few days ago.  I am copying the below information word for word because it directly applies to my situation at hand.  I have been getting the shaft from SCIF since being injured in 2001.  And when they changed the rules in 2004, they only fucked me over worse.

Workers’ comp was designed for businesses

October 19, 2006

Re “Workers’ Comp Gains Haven’t Eased the Pain of Tough Cases,” Oct. 17
The statement that “for the majority of people hurt on the job, the overhauled workers’ compensation system works” is at odds with reality.
Under this so-called reform, obtaining even the most mundane form of treatment has become a process that is sadly akin to pulling badly impacted teeth. I had to proceed to a full-blown trial just to obtain physical therapy for a client who had lost both arms and both legs — and he was lucky.
If his injury had occurred in 2004 or later, he would have been limited to 26 physical therapy sessions. Politics replaced sound medicine.
This reform was designed to line the pockets of wealthy insurance industry CEOs at the expense of working people. The reality is that if you are someone who lives from paycheck to paycheck, workers’ compensation reform leaves you one serious injury away from utter financial ruin.
ERNEST A. CANNING
Thousand Oaks
The writer is an attorney who has practiced extensively in the field of workers’ compensation.
• 
Holding the fifth place for having the nation’s highest workers’ compensation premium offers no cause for rejoicing. As I see it, the major problem lies in the lack of regulation over the insurers that have stolen a disproportionate portion of the savings from the 2004 reforms.
The solution to some of the glitches described in your article may be in setting up an ombudsman office for the workers’ compensation system similar to that established by the Department of Managed Care.
There will never be any system that can be fair to everyone. However, we can ease the pain of these exceptional cases by making it possible for the injured to gain fast access to medical care appropriate for their conditions.
JOHN T. CHIU
Newport Beach
• 
Where did The Times get the idea that workers’ compensation was first set up to benefit the worker?
Anybody who’s gone to law school in California knows that it was set up to benefit the business person — who had been complaining bitterly that the worker was constantly suing for damages because of work-related injuries and that it was too much to pay.
Now, the business person still thinks it’s too much to pay — and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger steps in to relieve the purportedly horrible burden on business. As usual, the business person does not want to pay for what he breaks, even when what’s broken is another person.
PETER LIPPMAN
Reno
•

[tags]Workers_Compensation_Reform, Workers_Compensation, Thoughts, Personal[/tags]

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1826 days ago.

2006.07.26 – 4:12 pm PDT

Where were you 5 years ago?

px@pmobilex ~/bin/abs $ ./days.between.sh 7/26/2001 7/26/2006
1826

I got hurt 5 Years ago and about 18 minutes from now.  Things about my life have changed dramatically.  Right now, I’m in a large amount of constant back pain.  My Workers Compensation case is still basically on hiatus since I have moved to Arizona.  Today I’ll be reflecting on things.
[note] my laptop crashed while writing this, but apparentaly the Deepest Sender didn’t lose my post.  :)  That’s nice.

[tags]workers compensation, WC, personal, life, pain, injury[/tags]

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the painful truth.

2006.07.02 – 4:44 am PDT

“Doctor, it hurts when I do that.” Doctors and patients agree - doctors are lousy when it comes to recognizing, diagnosing and treating pain. The AMA developed this free Continuing Medical Education tool (requires Flash) to help docs learn and understand how to deal with pain - but other folks, folks who are now in pain or might someday be in pain, might find it quite interesting as well. All docs in California have to complete this seminar or a similar one by the end of 2006 to get relicensed; the hope is that this will help the docs and the patients who have to deal with pain on a daily basis.

[via]

I’ve only met a few doctors who seem to understand pain. Will this likely help me? Doubtfully, only time will tell I suppose.

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waiting…

2006.06.14 – 12:31 pm PDT

so today went well from what i’ve absorbed so far. it was painful, uncomfortable, and that’s just from sitting, waiting to figure out what’s going on. i went before a judge, and things look like they’ll be moving ahead once more. i just need to make some seemingly difficult decisions about how to proceed next.

[tags]workers_compensation, california, judge[/tags]

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good thoughts wanted!

2006.06.09 – 10:05 am PDT

next week i’ll be in California.
i’m extremely uneasy when it comes to this.
Hopefully I won’t accidentally make the evening news.

you all know this whole WC, SCIF crap is the bane of my existence. Now we add the legal component, and I’m deeper in a world I don’t want to be.

I remember back several years, a few months after it started, and I remember crying for a n entire night thinking and worrying about my quickly changing life, and not wanting to be apart of this system.

I want to freely live my own life, get better, and be treated properly. Is this too much to ask for?

So if your brain happens to have a few spare cycles next Wednesday, 2006.06.14, around 8:30am, I could really use your good thoughts.

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