GRRR and other things I can’t talk about….

Workers Compensation is driving me and my son batty. Just when we think they have sunk to the bottom of the scrap heap and decided to just pay and get his treatment, they come out of left field with more bull crap than a cattle farm. My son was injured by a machine while working on a seasonal assignment through a temp service, employed by a well known online retailer of services and goods. The night of the injury he was treated by their on site care team and sent home with instructions to see his ortho or a hospital the next morning. Here is where they start the dicey business. His hand was swollen 3 times its normal size and he could not feel the last 3 fingers of his hand, why would we wait till morning for treatment of that? We went on to the ER where he was told he had a crush injury, well duhhhhh, and a broken finger. He was ordered to seek continued treatment. His work was called when we walked through the doors and they told us that we would be reimbursed for our out of pocket expenses for his treatment by worker’s comp when they were able to get in contact with HR to get it all dealt with. Oh if only they had stuck with that.

It has been 7 weeks. We had to seek legal help to even get a claim number. The temp agency claimed after investigation his claim had been denied. The lawyer discovered that workers comp did not have any denial. Matter of fact they were not aware of the severity of the injury. We are 3 weeks past the injury and still no treatment. Today we get informed that according to ‘their’ internal investigation ‘someone’ said my son had punched the machine. Really?? Seriously?? That is the best you can come up with 7 weeks later to continue to deny him needed medical treatment and physical therapy, not to mention the lost wages because, oh ya know, he can’t use that hand. How exactly does a CRUSH injury result from a punch anyway?

Their lack of help has left me so angry and saddened at the way our society has turned. What happened to protection of the worker? What happened to common sense??See from where I am sitting you know he was hurt ON THE JOB, your own care center saw him first and at NO POINT was it stated that he had punched anything. Ever. My son is a good kid who wants to work and can’t. Kind of difficult when most jobs require the full use of your hands and currently for all intents and purposes he is minus the use of one except for his first finger and thumb. I hope they never have to employ their own services at some point. Perhaps if more of them had to walk through the hoops they put on other people they would realize the absurdity of some of their arguments and claims.

I am just sickened by this whole process. Period. It is atrocious the way they force an injured person to remain injured knowing that the longer they are injured the more it is going to cost to get them back to functioning fully.