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When you spend roughly one-third of your life at work, accidents are bound to happen. In 2019 alone, the National Safety Council's Injury Facts sheet reported 48.3 million injuries and 173,040 preventable deaths in the workplace. (And these are just the numbers that were actually reported.)
With few exceptions, Utah law requires employers to carry workers' compensation insurance to protect employees who are injured at work. This helps cover medical expenses and provides a modest wage to employees until they are able to return to work. In the case of a permanent injury or workplace death, workers' compensation insurance pays disability benefits to the employee or death benefits to an employee's family. It doesn't matter whether the accident was the employer's or the employee's fault.
But workers' compensation is no get-rich-quick scheme. The benefits are bare-bones and designed mainly to help keep the workers' families afloat while employees recover from work injuries. Most workers would give up their workers' compensation benefits in a heartbeat if it meant the initial accident or injury never happened in the first place. Even with modest insurance coverage, the road to physical and financial recovery is never easy.
One workers compensation insurance company encourages employees to stay safe with the tagline, "Be careful out there." But another reason to "be careful out there" is that insurance companies do not like to pay for these claims. They will often use every means at their disposal to delay or avoid payment altogether.
Such was the case for James (whose name has been changed) before he sought professional legal help.
Stranded in Guatemala in a coma
James suffered a broken ankle after falling off a ladder at work while installing cable TV equipment on the roof of a customer's home. He was rushed to the nearest rural hospital and then life-flighted to a major trauma center in Utah because he was also a hemophiliac. After surgery to repair his ankle and several weeks of rehabilitation (including "factor eight" blood clotting treatment), he was released from the hospital.
Less than a month after his release, he asked his doctor if he could fly to Guatemala to visit his family. The doctor said, "I don't see why not. Just don't do any hill climbing!" When he reached Dallas-Ft. Worth, his leg had started hurting, swelling, and turning red. By the time he landed in Guatemala, his leg was black, and he was rushed straight to the hospital from the airport. James had surgery and spent three months in a coma in Guatemala before being flown (at great expense) to Miami, Florida, where he spent another six months recovering.
Finally, he was stable enough to return to Utah and spent an additional three months in the hospital—the one he had been life-flighted to originally.
James was covered by health insurance, but he was still being billed more than $600,000 for copays, deductibles, co-insurance, and expenses that exceeded his health insurance policy limits. He was planning to declare bankruptcy.
The workers compensation carrier denied that any of the blood clotting problems he experienced during his flight to Guatemala were connected to his broken ankle, his surgery, or his blood clotting treatment.
Davis & Sanchez filed a complaint for James with the Utah Labor Commission. The workers compensation carrier, rather than litigate what was most likely a losing case, offered to settle the case. We were able to get the workers compensation insurance to pay his $98,000 Miami hospital bill, reimburse his health insurance well over $1 million, get him paid for more than a year of lost wages and avoid filing bankruptcy.
Most workplace injuries aren't reported
What happened to James could easily happen to you or to those you love.
In 2019, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that an average of 2.8 per 100 full-time workers were injured on the job that year. The most common non-fatal injuries were sprains, strains, and tears. Transportation accidents accounted for the most common cause of work-related deaths.
When you're dealing with the lasting effects of a workplace injury or death, the last thing you want is a financial burden to carry as well. However, many workers are unaware of the benefits available to them through worker's compensation. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration reports a significant portion of workplace injuries go unreported and has proposed amending its recordkeeping process to give a more accurate accounting.
Have you been injured at work? Get Help!
If you suspect you aren't receiving the compensation you rightfully deserve for a workplace injury or illness, it's important to act quickly. Let the award-winning team of attorneys at Davis & Sanchez help. As a law firm focused solely on workers' compensation, Davis & Sanchez offers free case evaluations to help you determine if hiring an attorney is your best option.
Contact them today to get the help you need.
