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When you’ve been injured in Vermont and have filed a workers’ comp claim, there may come a time when your doctor wants to perform surgery, an injection, or some other relatively expensive treatment that requires the insurance company to “preauthorize” that treatment. Although Vermont law doesn’t require your doctor’s office to request preauthorization, most doctors’ offices request preauthorization from… Read more »
Many times when a person sustains a Vermont work injury, the employer will send an injured worker to a specific doctor’s office for treatment. This is permitted by the Vermont workers’ compensation rules, which state that “[a]n employer may designate the treating health care provider to initially treat an injured employee immediately following a compensable injury.”… Read more »
One question I’m occasionally asked by current and potential clients is what happens if they leave their job while receiving Vermont workers’ comp benefits. Although it’s unlikely that your medical benefits will be terminated if you leave your job, whether your TTD benefits are affected depends on why your employment ended. If you have recovered well… Read more »
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, at some point in time your employer’s insurance carrier may offer to settle your Vermont workers’ comp claim. While this occasionally happens in situations in which your claim has been denied — such as at mediation prior to a formal hearing — it is more likely to happen when your claim… Read more »
Throughout the life of an accepted Vermont workers’ compensation claim, the insurance carrier will be looking for ways to cease paying workers’ comp benefits to you, the injured employee. Sometimes, the insurer simply wants to get you to maximum medical improvement and back to work as quickly as possible, so it can stop paying you… Read more »
As an injured employee progresses through his or her Vermont workers’ compensation claim, it is not at all uncommon for the insurance company or their attorney to schedule you for an Independent Medical Examination (a.k.a. an “IME”). If you’ve never had a workers’ comp injury or filed a lawsuit for other injuries, you’ve probably never… Read more »
After you experience a Vermont work injury, the workers’ compensation process can vary significantly depending on the nature of your injury and the insurance company’s response (i.e. whether it agrees your injury happened at work). If your work injury is not simply accepted and paid for by the insurance company from start to finish, you… Read more »
Many Vermonters who have experienced a work injury wonder whether a “preexisting condition” will prevent them from receiving Vermont workers comp benefits, even though their new work injury worsened their symptoms. As with many questions you can ask a lawyer, the best answer is “it depends.” Fortunately, however, the mere fact that you may have… Read more »
It’s not uncommon for someone who experiences a Vermont work injury to be unsure of what to do after that injury occurs. Maybe it was a pretty small injury, and you don’t want to bother your supervisor or HR person by reporting something you expect will resolve on its own. Maybe your company has a… Read more »
In my two previous blog posts I talked about the temporary and permanent “indemnity” benefits you may be entitled to after experiencing a Vermont work injury. If you are the spouse or dependent child of someone who is killed at work, death benefits may also be available, and are relatively self-explanatory. Medical benefits and vocational… Read more »
