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Every day, injured workers deal with doctors handpicked by the insurance companies, second and third opinions, constant delaying tactics, and ethically questionable private investigators who are trained to ensnare workers in technicalities that could allow the insurance companies to deny the claim.

Most people don’t know how to get their lives back on track after suffering a work injury. Our mission is to create individualized plans to get our clients back to health quicker, get the bills paid, get back on the job, and live the lives they want to live.

Insurance companies also have enormous public relations machines that give the public the perception that most workers’ comp claims are based on fraud and deceit. If you have been injured on the job and are unable to work, you will have to face an organized and well-financed team of doctors, lawyers and private investigators just to get barely enough money to put food on the table and provide for their families. To fight back and protect your rights contact a Toledo Workers’ Compensation lawyer today. An experienced injury attorney can help advocate on your behalf and ensure that all the necessary legal steps are taken.

What are the Requirements for Filing Workers’ Compensation in Toledo?

The requirements of workers’ compensation in Toledo are first that an employee needs to be employed by a specific employer. Once that is proven, the employee must confirm that the injury has to have occurred during the course of employment. There also has to be a physical injury in order to recover benefits to begin with. A claim for a psychological injury without a contemporaneous physical injury is not permitted under Ohio law.

Interacting with Insurance Following an Accident

The delaying tactics used by the insurance companies are legendary among Toledo workers’ compensation lawyers. Your insurance company is going to treat you like you are a fraud. Every visit to the doctor, every prescription, every recommendation for treatment and every visit to a specialist is going to be contested, appealed, and buried under mountains of paperwork for no other reason than to frustrate the claimant into giving up.

While the claimant is waiting through all these delays, this gives the insurance company plenty of time to hire private investigators to keep an eye on you. If that sounds like we’re being paranoid, believe us, we aren’t. This is big business in the Private Investigations field, so much so that there is actually a textbook published on how to catch “insurance abusers.” Something as trivial as being caught not limping as badly as the doctor described is often enough for the insurance company to cancel your benefits.

Another tactic is to delve deeply into your personal history, where total irrelevancies from your past can take on important new meanings. For instance, one claimant who was trying to get workers comp because he was exposed to toxic fumes at a power plant for over 18 years had his claim denied because it was discovered that he had a drinking problem. The fact that this drinking problem had been dealt with and overcome years before didn’t matter at all to the insurers. They saw an opportunity and ran with it.

What Should an Individual Expect Following an Injury?

If you get injured on the job, you will most likely have to see a doctor that is on the insurance company payroll. These doctors will quite often offer what is called palliative treatment, which is basically the most minimal and least expensive treatment that the doctor can get away with.

These doctors aren’t doing this because they are heartless or are ignoring their Hippocratic Oath; they are doing it because they have to do SOMETHING while they fill out the paperwork, tell the injured worker to petition for a hearing, and jump through a substantial number of hoops in order to get the insurance company to pay for the more expensive treatment that is needed.

These delays can last for days, weeks, or sometimes even months. There is also the added nightmare of having to pay for specialists or for rehabilitative care. One physical therapist described getting enough money from the insurer to cover only a week’s worth of sessions. By the time the paperwork was filled out, the depositions were given and the funds were reluctantly granted for another week’s worth of treatment, so much time had passed that the physical gains made by the patient in the first week were essentially worthless, and he had to start all over again.

Why Should a Person Seeking Workers’ Compensation Contact a Toledo lawyer?

Ohio workers’ compensation claims can be a difficult process and a paperwork nightmare for an individual. In order to receive the full benefits that are available under Ohio Workers’ Compensation law, a person needs an attorney that understands the entire process to ensure that they file their claim in a timely manner.

Importance of a Toledo Workers’ Compensation Lawyer

It doesn’t have to be like this. We know the insurance company tactics, we know the doctors, we know how the investigators work, and we know what it takes to get you the treatment and settlement that you deserve. If you or a loved one has suffered injuries on the job, contact a Toledo workers’ compensation lawyer today for help by calling or by filling out the online form to the right.