Can I get some answers please? Much appreciated :)

[UndercovrAngel]

In order to get your epi pen covered under workers comp, your claim must be accepted by the insurance company.

In order for your claim to be accepted by the insurance company, the allergist and/or Dr of record (you will be given a list of Dr's that accept your employers work comp insurance and will have to choose one of them, or your employer will send you to one)will have to tie your allergic reaction into a specific compound/allergen found within your work area.

You must fill out a notice of injury with your employer which they must send to the comp insurance carrier within a specific amount of days. You have 30 days from known date of injury (in your case the allergic reaction) to notify your employer and fill out the notice.

At this point, you must have told the ER that this is a workers comp claim, or you could be held responsible to pay the entire ER bill as well as ambulance bill if they were called. Also, if you were given the scrip for the epi pen you have 2 options.
1. pay for it out of pocket, wait for the IC to accept your claim and put in for out of pocket reimbursement
2. wait for the IC to accept claim and them fill prescription under work comp claim number.

Did the ER Dr that treated you give you a note to stay out of work until such a time as it can be determined what the actual cause of the allergic reaction was?? If not, and you do not return to work, your employer can claim you self terminated your employment which will make your claim all the more harder to prove.

It's doubtful that the IC will do anything to help assist in finding you new employment/new major or even help with with vocational rehab. As you stated, you are only 20 yrs old and have only worked at the store 2 weeks before the reaction occurred. You are young enough to find new employment as well as find something new to major in at school.

As for receiving monetary benefits, you will probably receive TTD until it is determined what actually caused your reaction. The IC may go as far as having you return to the work place again, accompanied by someone able to assist you medically if you have another reaction, just to see if there is actually something in the building you may be allergic to. It may have been that a customer on that particular day of your reaction carried something in from outside of the building.

As for a settlement of any kind, very doubtful. An allergist should be able to determine what you had the reaction to, and as long as you avoid it, you won't have a reaction again. And if by chance you do, by carrying your EPI pen, you can stop the reaction as soon as you know it has begun. Yes, it will be a permanent disability, but not one that will so affect your life that it will keep you from being able to do many of the things you do now. Many allergies can be lessened/put in remission by allergists administering small doses of said allergen until you build up a resistance to it. You may have to just change employment and majors. Which at your age is easier to accomplish than someone who is 40 year od age or older and been in the same employment since they were 18-25 and have no other wage earning skills.

Angel ^j^

[SandyK]

(07-16-2012 04:54 AM)Hferna Wrote:  Hello everyone!


On July 3rd, I had a severe allergic/anaphylactic reaction which included hives, swelling of limbs, face, neck and throat, and inability to breathe properly while working at Petsmart. I was rushed to the ER where the treating physician told me that he was "99.9% certain" that my reaction was caused by an airborne allergy from wherever I was (Petsmart). For the first week after, I was unable to leave my home (which was okay since I looked like a swollen, red lethargic monster for 6 of those days) and I have now been out of work for 13 days.

Hi, I’m so sorry for what you’ve been through. I know just how you feel. I worked in an office environment and have several reactions to various irritants at work. (I never ever had a problem like this before.) Each exposure left me so debilitated that I had to be hospitalized and treated. As a result, any inhaled chemicals/perfumes and other scents have left me with severe allergies and respiratory problems. I’ve been to an allergist and have been told that there arenno tests that can tell you what chemicals/perfumes cause such severe reactions. My problems have become significantly worse over time. It is hard to go out. I have to use a mask with a filter, my EPI pen and 2 rescue inhalers. At first, the IC did not want to cover my respiratory issues but hospital records from several exposures at work made it hard for them to deny the organs that were affected.