By: Darrell Castle
Video Transcript
Hello this is Darrell Castle and I’m an attorney licensed to practice law in the state of Tennessee and on this video today I want to talk to you about workers’ compensation. What happens when you’re injured on the job and you receive workers’ compensation benefits? A lump sum settlement perhaps?
Well most of the time, you have the right to medical care for life for that injury. That’s called “leaving the medicals open for that injury.” Anytime you need to have treatment for that injury, you can go back to your workers’ comp doctor and get that treatment. That happens quite often.
Now, you can settle that. You can close out your medicals at the time of settlement just like the rest of it. But most of the time the medicals are left open in case you need additional care.
Let’s say you have a broken wrist for example and you had surgery on that wrist. The doctor had to put a titanium pin or plate in your wrist and he told you in a couple of years, “we’re going to need to go into that wrist and remove that plate.” Then you would NOT want to close out your medicals because you know you’re going to need them again. You need to have that additional surgery. But most of the time that’s not the case. Most of the time, you have an injury that completely heals. And then you don’t need treatment for that injury anymore because it completely heals. You can close out the medicals in that situation and be paid for it.
A year goes by — maybe longer. Two years. Three years. And the insurance company still has your medical claim open even though you may have settled your workers’ compensation case.
You have the right to negotiate with your employer’s insurance company to close out the medicals. They will pay you — sometimes — a substantial amount of money depending on the nature of your injury, to close out the medicals.
That is money you didn’t expect. Your attorney can do that for you, or perhaps a new attorney can do that for you. And you should consider if you don’t need any further medical treatment.
Contact us today
If stopping your medicals is something you’d like to do, we can help you. Call (901) 327-1212 today.