The Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C.

Chicago Illinois Accident Lawyers

 CALL (312) 263-1080

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Other Types of Repetitive Trauma

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There are some kinds of injuries which are very easy to show were work related.  For example, you are stepping down from a rig and you twist your ankle and break it.  Very clearly work related.

Other kinds of injuries just sneak up you.  You begin having problems that aren’t too bad at first, but get worse and worse over time.  These are often referred to as repetitive trauma injuries.  They are the net effect of having just gotten beaten up physically at work for days and weeks and months and years.  Carpal tunnel syndrome is a common example of a repetitive trauma injury.

Repetitive trauma injuries can be covered by worker’s compensation IF it can be shown to be caused by your job.  That is often the key issue in the case because with many conditions that are caused by repetitive trauma, there is a long list of other, non-work related things that could cause those to.  You can be that the insurance company knows all of those potential other causes and will have skilled lawyers and shady medical experts trying to sell that as being the cause of your problems.

This is not to say that a repetitive trauma worker’s compensation case cannot be won, but they are much harder to win without the help of a skilled worker’s compensation lawyer who can help bring out exactly what you do for a living and how your occupation exposed you in a very particular way, day in and day out, to repetitive traumas that caused your problems.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to call our office to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this information.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

On-the-Job Heart Attacks

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Having a heart attack is one of the scariest experiences anyone can have – and it is probably worse for truck drivers who are often far from home and carrying an expensive load he has been entrusted with. 

So, what happens if you have a heart attack on the job?  Does the company have to pay you worker’s comp?

The key part of understanding the answer to that comes from the Worker’s Compensation Act.  It requires employers to pay the compensation due under the statute for injuries “arising out of and in the course of” your employment.

Having a heart attack on the job may satisfy the “in the course of” requirement, but what about the other part – arising out of?

This is where many heart attack cases fall short.  The conditions that cause a heart attack usually have been building up over years and years and the fact that they happened at work may just be a question of random chance.  In that case, the “arising out of” requirement isn’t met and there is no case.

There are some unusual circumstances where you may be able to satisfy the “arising out of” requirement such as when there was something specific that happened at work that triggered the heart attack – but those are rare, rare cases indeed.

If you know someone who suffered a heart attack while working there are two pieces of advice I would give them:

1.      These are difficult, difficult cases to win, and you shouldn’t make plans around winning a heart attack worker’s compensation case because it doesn’t happen often.

2.     The only way that you are going to win a heart attack worker’s compensation case is if you get high-quality legal help.  These are cases that will be contested from the word “go”.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

Not Your First Rodeo? Prior Worker’s Comp Claims

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Some people are born lucky … some aren’t.  If you happen to be one of the less lucky guys who has gotten hurt on the job more than one time, this one’s for you.

First, you need to know that the insurance company will know about your earlier accident.  The insurance industry keeps a database of people who have had claims before, and if you have gotten worker’s compensation benefits before, you are in the database.  That means that if you are ever asked about whether you have had a claim before, you should come clean about it.  Trying to hide things is a sure-fire way to get your case referred to the fraud unit.

There are two ways that your current case will be impacted by the fact that you have had a claim before: one legal, the other practical.

From a legal standpoint, the fact that you have had a prior case only makes a difference if you have an injury to the same body part in your earlier case.  Then, in theory, your employer would get a credit for the loss that you had in your earlier case.  By way of example, if your first case was settled for 20% of the use of your arm and you have a second accident which results in you having a loss of 25% of the use of your arm, you would only get 5% of the arm as a settlement.

If the first accident involved a different part of the body from your second accident, from a legal standpoint, there would be no difference in what you would be able to get for a settlement.  However, having had a case before has a practical impact which may be much more important than any legal effect that comes from your first case.

Remember, the insurance company will know that you have had a case before.  Once have a second accident (or a third, or a fourth, etc.), the insurance company is going to regard you as a “frequent filer” who knows how to “game the system” and this attitude towards you and your case multiplies the chances that your case will be reviewed and re-reviewed and that will end up causing you problems as your case goes forward.

What does that mean for you?  It means that you are more likely to be sent for an “IME,”  have your treating doctor’s recommendations questioned, to have your records reviewed by an outside “expert,” and so forth …. all in the name of finding some justification for cutting off your benefits and lowering the amount of money they have to pay you. 

When you are line for those kinds of hassles, it means that it is time to get legal help – before you get cut off and don’t have any money coming in the door or access to quality medical care.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

“A” Cause Is All You Need to Show in a Worker’s Comp Case ….

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“A” is not just a letter but a word, in worker’s compensation cases, it is a REALLY important word.  I’ll explain …..

In order to get worker’s comp benefits, you have to show that the work accident was “A” cause of your injury – not “THE” cause, the major cause, the most important cause, the predominant cause, or anything like that.

There is a world of difference between “A” cause and “THE” cause when it comes to making sure that people who get hurt on the job get the benefits they are entitled to after on the job injury because it means that in a world where people wake up every day with bad backs, creaky knees, and a host of other problems, they do not get put out on the scrap heap when they have an on-the-job injury.

When you get hurt on the job “A” cause is an important protection for you to help ensure that you are able to keep food on the table, to keep a roof over your head, and to get access to quality medical care.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

Bad Backs, Bad Knees, Bad Shoulders …. Pre-Existing Conditions and Worker’s Comp

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So you get hurt on the job and the next thing you know, the insurance adjuster is talking about the arthritis you had in your back.  Which is news to you because you never had a back problem.

Now you’ve got a problem of a different kind all together – a legal one.

The insurance company is required to pay your worker’s compensation benefits if your work accident was “A” cause of your injuries.  It doesn’t have to be the main cause, a major cause, or anything else other than one of the contributing causes to your injuries.

A lot of people – in fact virtually everyone over the age of 30 – has some degree of arthritis in their neck or low back, and the more you age and the more you do hard physical work, the more likely it is that you will have what the medical profession calls “degenerative changes” in your back, neck, knees, and/or shoulders.

The thing about it is this: you can have all of those degenerative changes and still not have a bit of symptoms from it, and it isn’t until you have your work accident that these start to produce symptoms.  When that happens, the insurance company is still required to pay your benefits – but you are likely to have a fight over it.

If the insurance company believes that they can attribute all of your medical problems to preexisting degenerative changes, then they don’t have to pay for anything.  It is going to take well-qualified legal help to make sure that you continue to get disability checks that will keep food on your table and a roof over your head and that you continue to get access to quality medical care so that you can return to your normal life.

If you have a current worker’s compensation issue which you need help on, please feel free to reach out to our office by calling us at 312-263-1080 to discuss your issues and what options you have.  There is no obligation to hire our law firm, and there is no charge for the call.

I hope this has been helpful, and if you know anyone who can benefit from this kind of information, please feel free to share this.

We are here to help truck drivers after an on-the-job accident.  Knowledge is power, and the first step in protecting your rights is to know what they are.

Stay safe!

The Law Officecs of Barry G. Doyle, P.C.

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(312) 263-1080

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Skokie, IL
  • Law Offices of Barry G. Doyle, P.C. 4709 West Golf Road, Suite 1140
    Skokie, IL 60076
  • Phone: (312) 263-1080
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