My daughter is a life aid that helps a family with disabilities. One of her jobs is to run errands. She was in a big chain home improvement store in the beginning of July when she slipped and fell in one of the aisles because there was a puddle of something on the floor. Employees helped and a claim was made. Hew workmans comp kicked in and was sent to participating doctors. After 5 weeks, no improvement so she was sent for an MRI. The MRI says "very abnormal due to a huge midline herniation at l5-s1 effacing the thecal sac and contracting both exiting s1 nerve roots". Now she has an appointment with a neurosurgon next week. She is young and a college student without health insurance of her own. Who knows her condition or what the outcome is going to be! Will workmans comp seek reimbursement from the store? Should she talk with an attorney? Any thoughts? We live in PA.
Is she employed by this family or an outside agency? If by an agency then it would be WC and if this is the case she should probably if she hasn't already make a report with the agency.
If by the family do they have wc insurance? I couldn't imagine they would. Not really sure of the rules in PA. If they are the employer and they don't have wc insurance then I am not sure how that would work. I would contact a work comp lawyer to find out.
Yes, she is employed by an agency and their wc called right away and handled everything. The Dr.'s they chose to send her to have been really great and this neurosurgon is top notch. She can currently work, but, has restrictions. We're just not sure what to do about the place where she fell.
basically your daughter has the right to file against the store with the comp carrier/employer having lein rights to reimbursement out of whatever recovery is secured.
there are time limitations to filing so she should act expeditiously in order to maintain her rights.
while workers comp is "no fault" and is primarily liable, your daughter still maintains her right to pursue a civil negligence suit against the 3rd party store. if/when a suit is filed her atty should notify the work comp carrier.
So, workmans comp could get their money back from the store and my daughter could also be entitled to a settlement? How long, in your opinion, would she have to do this?
each state has their own civil court rules.
i suspect it's generally within a year.
How about her injury? Anyone familiar with a diagnosis such as this?
what's the question?
it's serious and i doubt she'd be referred to a neurosurgeon if surgery wasn't a likely component of the treatment options. luckily she's young.
Thank you for your input. You seem to know what you're talking about. We dont know anything about any of this, so, its been nice to have this forum to get some much needed info.
My daughter is a life aid that helps a family with disabilities. One of her jobs is to run errands. She was in a big chain home improvement store in the beginning of July when she slipped and fell in one of the aisles because there was a puddle of something on the floor. Employees helped and a claim was made. Hew workmans comp kicked in and was sent to participating doctors. After 5 weeks, no improvement so she was sent for an MRI. The MRI says "very abnormal due to a huge midline herniation at l5-s1 effacing the thecal sac and contracting both exiting s1 nerve roots". Now she has an appointment with a neurosurgon next week. She is young and a college student without health insurance of her own. Who knows her condition or what the outcome is going to be! Will workmans comp seek reimbursement from the store? Should she talk with an attorney? Any thoughts? We live in PA.
It sounds to me like she was not an employee of the store she fell in? If that is the case the store has general liability insurance that insures the public. Workman's compensation only comes into play if she was injured as an employee of that store?? That is unless they are a 3rd party payer--& they will pay out now--but will receive their payments back when the general liability insurance of the store settles the claim.
As far as an attorney? Definitely