I take a lot of questions from Injured workers here in Mississippi about secondary injuries that were not caused by their employment but are the result of an employment-related injury. For example, I have helped quite a few clients who suffered foot injuries at work as a result of warehouse workers who have gone on to develop subsequent knee and back injuries that arose as a consequence of the original foot injury. The question these clients always ask is whether they can collect worker’s compensation for both injuries or just for the original one? The answer is that in the above example, the injured warehouse worker was due compensation for the second injury as well as the first, but only because he fought for those benefits with an attorney by his side.
If you were injured at work and have developed a secondary injury, you may be due compensation for your medical care, time without work, and other costs. You will need to have experienced counsel help you attain your fair share of compensation for your both your primary and secondary injury. Barrett Law has the experience to help you if you have been injured. Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.
Types of Secondary Injuries
Worker’s compensation will likely cover secondary injuries that are directly caused by a work-related injury. I usually see a few different types of secondary injuries and will describe each below.
The first type of secondary injury that I see are injuries caused by treatment. People often have serious allergic reactions to the medications they are prescribed for their work-related injury; the side effects of those reactions are the secondary injury that would likely be covered by worker’s compensation. Similarly, if you injure your back at work and attend prescribed physical therapy and are subsequently injured in a physical therapy session, the injuries related to that secondary injury will likely be covered by worker’s compensation. The same is true if you are on crutches due to a work-related injury, fall, and break a different bone as a result of the fall.
The second type of secondary injury is an injury that arises from the workplace injury, but that is not necessarily causally related to it. I mentioned the warehouse worker’s foot injury above. His employer and his employer’s insurance company here in Mississippi tried to argue that worker’s compensation should not cover the knee injury that developed as a result of his foot being injured. In a situation like this, an injured worker needs a skilled attorney who can present effective medical evidence that the secondary injury arose from the primary one. Plenty of people have knee issues that develop unrelated to work injuries, so it takes some skill to show that the secondary injury truly was causally related to the first injury.
Worker’s compensation will not cover a truly unrelated secondary injury. However, if that secondary injury exacerbates, or makes worse, your work-related injury, then you can seek worker’s compensation for the worsening of your original injury.
What Should You Do If You Are Injured at Work
If you were injured at work, there are concrete, immediate steps that you should take to protect yourself and your family. The first step is contacting an experienced worker’s compensation attorney to guide you through this legally-intensive process. If you have a secondary injury arising from your original workplace injury, you may be due compensation for those costs as well. You are likely to receive resistance for these secondary payments but deserve compensation for these injuries as well. I have helped many clients through the initial and secondary injury compensation process and can help you too.
Call Barrett Law now, an experienced Mississippi worker’s compensation law firm, to represent you if you have a serious injury that prevents you from working or a secondary injury that has developed as a result of your initial injury. Contact us now at (800) 707-9577.
