Talk with us before your Workers’ Compensation doctor releases you to full duty if you are not fully recovered.

While on Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation, have you been released to full duty before you are fully recovered? Are you worried that your Workers’ Comp doctor is working for your employer’s benefit and not protecting your health? The bond between patient and doctor should always ensure the health and safety of the patient. However, there are occasions where the patient may not feel like their doctor is fully supporting them. We see this often in the Workers’ Compensation context, especially where the doctor is on a panel list or chosen by the Workers’ Compensation insurance company.

As an injured worker in Pennsylvania, where your claim was properly accepted and documented (which, unfortunately,  rarely occurs) by the workers’ compensation insurance company, you have an obligation to treat with “their” doctors for the first 90 days. Of course, this is only true provided that you were given a proper panel list, which includes certain doctors in certain specialties in your geographic area.

If you need a specialist which is not included on the list, then you are free to treat with an off-panel doctor.

Also, after 90 days you are no longer obligated to treat with the panel doctor, and you may find a doctor on your own.

In addition, if you are treated on panel, and the panel doctor recommends surgery, you are allowed to seek a second opinion even if you are within the 90-day period.

Oftentimes people treat on panel for the first 90 days, feel comfortable with the doctor who is the panel doctor and undergo surgery. But, soon after surgery their doctor’s demeanor changes and releases the claimant to return to work too soon or releases them full duty, even if the claimant has reduced capacity or continued pain. This is a classic example of where the panel doctor’s loyalties lie more with the panel list on which they reside over their patient loyalty.

This should not happen. However, there are ways to remedy the situation and keep the wage loss checks going. (Inevitably the Workers’ Compensation carrier will attempt to suspend or terminate your benefits if your doctor releases you to full duty. It is best to talk with us before that happens, but if does, call us at RG Injury Law, and we’ll keep your benefits going).

Contact Attorney Bill Gregory, recognized as one of the top injury and Workers’ Compensation lawyers in Pennsylvania who knows how to help victims of workplace injuries and their families after a work-related disability, injury, illness, or death has impacted your life. Call us for a no-pressure, Workers’ Compensation benefits consultation at 717.656.5000.

When you think you need a high-powered Workers Compensation attorney in Philadelphia to win your Workers’ Compensation case in Pennsylvania, you can be confident that RG Injury Law’s winning record is the result of personalized attention and communication with clients, thorough knowledge of Workers’ Compensation law in Pennsylvania, former insurance insider’s experience. While we call Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, our home, personal injury law firm fight for clients with injuries and disabilities in need of personal injury lawyers, and/or Workers’ Compensation lawyers throughout the mid-Atlantic region from offices in Lancaster County that include service in Harrisburg, Hershey, Middletown, Annville, Mt. Gretna, Elizabethtown, Columbia PA, Lancaster City, Neffsville, Hempfield Township, Manheim Borough, Manor Township, Manheim Township, Gap, Ephrata, Lititz, Leola, Mt. Joy, Marietta, Akron, Denver, Millersville, Willow Street, Strasburg, New Holland, Paradise, Refton, Quarryville, Reamstown, West Chester, Coatesville, Exton, King of Prussia, and Malvern. RG Injury Law also fights for people with workplace injuries in the counties of Lebanon, Philadelphia, Chester, York, Dauphin, Berks, and Montgomery.