Sonoma County Workers’ Compensation Attorney Can Help With Your Compensable Consequence Injury

Okay, here’s the story about compensable consequence injuries faced by many injured workers, and why the Law Offices of Marc Francis, a leading Sonoma County workers’ compensation attorney, can help.

You suffer a fall at work and reach out with your hand to break your fall, injuring your shoulder joint and perhaps your wrist and elbow on the same side. You complete a claim form and give it to your employer listing those body parts as having been injured on the job. At the employer’s medical clinic the attending physicians assistant looks at only those body parts listed on the claim form, prescribes some pills or physical therapy, and sends you on your way with some work restrictions for that shoulder. Ultimately, you wind up having a shoulder surgery on that side, and for a number of months you must perform activities of daily living with the shoulder, arm, and wrist on the other side of your body.

Over time, you start to notice symptoms on the opposite side of your body which you have been using to compensate for the side that was originally injured at work. Eventually it gets so painful that you report to the clinic doctor “I’m having problems with my other shoulder now!” The doctor (or perhaps only a physician’s assistant) says “Gee, I’m sorry about that but the insurance company says I’m not authorized to treat your other shoulder because it wasn’t originally reported as injured.” What do you do?

A Sonoma County workers’ compensation attorney at the Law Office of Marc Francis can help with this situation often faced by many injured workers in Sonoma County and the Santa Rosa area. These type of cases require careful attention to details in your testimony and medical records to demonstrate that, in fact, your opposite side (shoulder, elbow, or wrist) was injured because you were forced to compensate for the originally injured side, and that is what caused the problems you now experience on the opposite side.

This compensatory type of injury can also happen with both legs, knees, ankles, and feet. Or, someone who suffers a knee injury at work can develop a limp, or altered gait, which causes problems on the other knee, or even with the injured worker’s back.

Call the Law Offices of Marc Francis today for the best Sonoma County workers’ compensation attorney.