06-26-2011, 05:31 PM
Hello everyone.
I have a workers comp claim in Tennessee that has been ongoing since October of 2010. I was misdiagnosed originally and told nothing was wrong with my knee.To make a long story short, in February I had surgery on my left knee to reattach part of my femur bone with nail sutures. It had chipped off and was floating in a pocket of fluid. I don't remember the technical name for the surgery off the top of my head. It was an arthoscopic knee surgery, though.
I had months of recovery time and about two months of physcial therapy. During that time I developed a staph infection in one of the incisions due to the inside stitches not dissolving. I had three doctors appointments before the doctors decided my incision was indeed infected.
Within the last four weeks I returned to work for the first time, the first week being light duty with no squatting and the following weeks full duty. I have been working my job regularly, but my hours have been reduced since I returned to work.
Now to my currect predicament...
Within the past three weeks, I have begun experiencing more and more pain associated with the knee I had surgery on. I have had communication problems with the insurance company and my doctor throughout this entire ordeal, but it has gotten much worse. Last week was devoted to contacting my case manager, doctors office, and insurance company concerning the pain I am experiencing.
I was told by my case manager upon calling her for the second time that she was no longer handling my file. She instructed me to contact the doctors office. After two days of calling the doctor's office I finally reached the nurse who told me I could not get an appointment before my scheduled visit on July 6th. I explained I was experiencing more pain than I expected upon returning to work, that it was affecting my work habits, and I even have pain when not using my knee. She said that I might just have pain associated with my surgery indefintiely. She perscribed me Ultram, which I had previously taken during my recovery time, and told me to contact the insurance company about seeing the physicians assistant.
I called the insurance company and left a message with the guy handling my claim on Thursday of last week. He did not call me back on Friday.
I want to get another MRI done on my knee to try and figure out the cause of my pain and swelling. I had several xrays taken of my knee and the doctors told me there was nothing wrong with my knee. I was misdiagnosed until they did a MRI. I was told by a friend who is a nurse to visit the ER this coming week. I am worried with all the stipulations of workers comp, that the insurance company will not pay for the visit.
I have not gotten a lawyer through any of my struggles with the insurance company, despite the fact that I could not work either of my two jobs during my recovery time and have gone into debt as a result of this injury. I also lost my health insurance through my job because I could not make the monthly payments required during my recovery time.
I am sorry this has been such a lengthy post, but I am at my wits end. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do next? Should I go to the ER? Will the insurance company cover my visit to the ER? I need to keep working so I do not get evicted haha... but it's becoming harder and harder with all this pain.
Thanks for your time and any suggestions,
Donovan
I have a workers comp claim in Tennessee that has been ongoing since October of 2010. I was misdiagnosed originally and told nothing was wrong with my knee.To make a long story short, in February I had surgery on my left knee to reattach part of my femur bone with nail sutures. It had chipped off and was floating in a pocket of fluid. I don't remember the technical name for the surgery off the top of my head. It was an arthoscopic knee surgery, though.
I had months of recovery time and about two months of physcial therapy. During that time I developed a staph infection in one of the incisions due to the inside stitches not dissolving. I had three doctors appointments before the doctors decided my incision was indeed infected.
Within the last four weeks I returned to work for the first time, the first week being light duty with no squatting and the following weeks full duty. I have been working my job regularly, but my hours have been reduced since I returned to work.
Now to my currect predicament...
Within the past three weeks, I have begun experiencing more and more pain associated with the knee I had surgery on. I have had communication problems with the insurance company and my doctor throughout this entire ordeal, but it has gotten much worse. Last week was devoted to contacting my case manager, doctors office, and insurance company concerning the pain I am experiencing.
I was told by my case manager upon calling her for the second time that she was no longer handling my file. She instructed me to contact the doctors office. After two days of calling the doctor's office I finally reached the nurse who told me I could not get an appointment before my scheduled visit on July 6th. I explained I was experiencing more pain than I expected upon returning to work, that it was affecting my work habits, and I even have pain when not using my knee. She said that I might just have pain associated with my surgery indefintiely. She perscribed me Ultram, which I had previously taken during my recovery time, and told me to contact the insurance company about seeing the physicians assistant.
I called the insurance company and left a message with the guy handling my claim on Thursday of last week. He did not call me back on Friday.
I want to get another MRI done on my knee to try and figure out the cause of my pain and swelling. I had several xrays taken of my knee and the doctors told me there was nothing wrong with my knee. I was misdiagnosed until they did a MRI. I was told by a friend who is a nurse to visit the ER this coming week. I am worried with all the stipulations of workers comp, that the insurance company will not pay for the visit.
I have not gotten a lawyer through any of my struggles with the insurance company, despite the fact that I could not work either of my two jobs during my recovery time and have gone into debt as a result of this injury. I also lost my health insurance through my job because I could not make the monthly payments required during my recovery time.
I am sorry this has been such a lengthy post, but I am at my wits end. Does anyone have any suggestions on what to do next? Should I go to the ER? Will the insurance company cover my visit to the ER? I need to keep working so I do not get evicted haha... but it's becoming harder and harder with all this pain.
Thanks for your time and any suggestions,
Donovan