Workers' Compensation Discussion Forums

Long story short - my Dad passed from asbestos related cancer. We filed a WC claim - employer is a self pay - went to the IC hearing and won.....I am in Ohio by the way.

Employer must pay all medical bills, funeral expenses and death benefits for the rest of my mom's life. My questions -

Medical bills - our attorney says he does not need us to send him all the bills - over 2 years of surgeries, chemo, radiation...yada, yada, yada...how are the bills paid if we don't send them in for reimbursement?

I also asked the attorney if we had to pay his insurance company back and got a pretty blank answer of "only if they ask"

Are medical bills paid as total amount billed or just co-payment amount?

Death benefit - they must back pay from the day of diagnosis - over 2 years ago....now my Dad retired many moons ago - will they go off of the pay he was making then or is based on what he would have been paid today?

Since we won the case - the attorney does not seem interested in my questions any longer - getting rather annoyed at that.

Lastly - I know the employer has the choice to appeal this but must pay all claims submitted prior to any appeal hearing - how long does it normally take for an appeal to be heard?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

wow you do have alot of questions...first I am sorry you lost your Daddy.Welcome to our site......if you call your Dads insurance company and tell them this was a WC case and you won send them the paperwork and believe me they will go after WC for their money....Your lawyer should have this all done for you its what you paid him for...suggest a sit down with him to get this taken care of.....as to the rest I am lost but someone will come along soon to answer your questions or send you in the right direction

any bills you paid directly you can request reimbursement.
Any third party carrier/insurer can file a lien.
Appeal period can vary by workload of the local court; there is no set time.

Lost wages between the date of injury and the date of death are paid. The benefit is based upon the prior year’s earnings of the employee.

you can find out more about death benefit provisions from factsheet FSDB
https://www.ohiobwc.com/worker/forms/pub...=120894672

put your questions to the atty in writting. if you get no response contact the Ohio state bar.
you can change atty at anytime.

Thank you both for your replies - I guess I need to rephrase a few things -

"Lost wages between the date of injury and the date of death are paid. The benefit is based upon the prior year’s earnings of the employee."

Dad retired 20 years ago - was collecting a small pension - so benefits will be paid based on his pension? or his last year worked? If it is the last year worked - 20 years ago - do they bring it up to todays standards?

There is NO date of injury - he was exposed to asbestos for 32 years - not sure if that changes things.

"any bills you paid directly you can request reimbursement"

The attorney told me he doesn't need me to send him any of the bills - is this something they normally get themselves? As in a statement of account from each provider.

"Any third party carrier/insurer can file a lien"

Will WC notify them or is this something my attorney or myself need to do?

I will be attempting to contact the attorney again on Monday - he has not returned my calls in almost 2 weeks.

Thanks in advance for any insight you can give me on this.

Benifts are paid at the amount an injured worker made at that time of injury.