I had a doctor testify in a hearing today who I normally respect but who had it all wrong in this case. At issue was whether or not walking on crutches and placing all of one's weight on their non-injured foot can aggravate an underlying asymptomatic condition in their heel. This doctor, who shall remain nameless, testified that it is impossible for someone to develop increased pain in the uninjured leg/foot from placing all their weight on it while recovering from surgery.
I've never wanted to take the stand and testify worse than I did today. I had surgery on my right knee three weeks ago and have been using crutches and placing all my weight on my left leg. And guess what? My left leg hurts worse than the one that had surgery! It just goes to show that doctors can have their opinions - but they are just that - opinions. I've had doctors in other cases testify that knee injuries shouldn't result in any restrictions on prolonged sitting. Bullcrap. I can only sit comfortably for about 30 minutes until my right leg falls asleep and I need to stand for a few minutes.
Some other things I've learned to believe my clients more since my injury:
1. Using crutches for long periods of time hurts your hands, wrists, and shoulders.
2. It is hard to sleep after an injury like this, which makes you tired all day, and makes it hard to concentrate.
3. It would be hard to survive if I wasn't able to work and had to wait to litigate my workers compensation claim.
4. Doctors make you wait in their waiting rooms much much much longer than lawyers.
Chad T. Snow is an attorney who practices exclusively workers compensation and Social Security Disability in Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona. He is the founder of Snow, Carpio, and Weekley, who can be reached at (602) 532-0700 or (520) 647-9000.
I lost a case before the Industrial Commission because the doctor hired by the workman's comp carrier testified that pain from a compression fractured vertebrae will ALWAYS manifest immediately. Either he is incompetent or he was lying because I suffered such an injury and the pain came on slowly over a period of 4 days until it was excruciating. My orthopedic surgeon testified that this was not unusual, but the hearing officer ruled against me.
ReplyDelete