Thank you for your invitation to connect on LinkedIn.
What a surprise!
Please let me know if I have information that can help you make a positive impact on the lives of InjuredWorkers in America and elsewhere.
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I bring a perspective to the table that few are willing to consider.
I believe my own case is not unlike that of Romano Trust vs. Sedgwick, except that I am still alive to fight the good fight. (In addition to TBI, shoulder surgery was recommended for me, but having read about Romano case, I declined, pending alternatives to surgery. The defense counsel suggests I’m unable to grasp the complexities of Labor Code, but the following looks pretty simple and easy to understand:
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“Similarly, in United States Cas. Co. v. Industrial Acc. Com. (Moynahan) (1954) 122 Cal.App.2d
427, 435 [19 Cal.Comp.Cases 8], the Court said:“Section 4600 of the Labor Code places the responsibility for medical expenses upon the employer when he has knowledge of the injury. … [ffl|] The duty imposed upon an employer who has notice of an injury to an employee is not … the passive one of reimbursement but the active one of offering aid in advance and of making whatever investigation is necessary to determine the extent of his obligation and the needs of the employee [emphasis added].”5 “.
Then CNA objected to the shoulder as an approved ‘body part’, and an Orthopedic QME has been in the works for nearly 365 days. They terminated benefits nearly immediately when they received diagnosis of closed head trauma/traumatic brain injury. They got away with it, too. Tsk tsk tsk. Maybe not in a Federal Court, one day.
My ‘case’ is “not usual” according to many “Super Lawyers.” How unfortunate for America’s working class that the majority of attorneys fail it’s #InjuredWorkers.
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Injured Workers have some ideas for the legal peeps, too; we can help you ‘find the money’ that you have been unable to successfully negotiate for yourself.
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That up-to-15% tin cup, divided up with incompetent predecessors, makes helping injured workers economically ridiculous, so I am told. It has to change, so you can successfully represent the previously poorly represented, without financial hardship to your firm, or giving away money to attorneys who failed to perform and protect the injured workers that trusted them and retained them.
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Or, injured workers, in pro per, will establish vendor networks and break the monopoly the ABA seems to have on WorkComp legal issues. Can’t we all just work together, and get along? Compatible goals would include immediate and appropriate medical care, and expedited return to work processes, and cut out all the dubious file churning. These are lives at stake, not just “cases” and “files.” BE HUMAN!
I suspect that WyndhamWorldwide may be looking for new #WorkComp insurance carrier and defense firms in the foreseeable future.
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The CNA handling of my case has been very poor for nearly 3 years. The legal counsel has been extremely sloppy, imho. The timeshare industry on the whole is probably nearly as profitable as the insurance industries, so that could be a business opportunity in progress.
I would like to see every InjuredWorker provided with a copy of THE ART OF WAR by SunTzu to study during any work related recovery and rehabilitation. It could minimize casualties.
It’s been brought to my attention that it is somewhat of an industry standard to terminate benefits upon diagnosis of a “brain injury” or any significant or potentially catastrophic injury.
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My diagnosis was February 2012, repeatedly reiterated by more than 30 medical evaluations that did not result in treatments.
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For some reason, people in WorkComp often confuse an evaluation and recommendation for treatment with actual treatment, even though the costs are often higher for reports. My benefits were terminated in April 2012, what a coincidence. Court orders, intervention by Adult Protective Services, local politicians, and local Crisis Center have free up funds, periodically. It is what could be considered to be a ‘low grade financial terrorism’ and abuse.
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Nearly $30,000 in personal funds has been spent to stay alive and get treatment. Defense apparently has no intentions to reimburse, not even reimbursement of miles to “primary treating doctors” [a PTP is State designated Orthopedic Surgeon to be seen every 45 days to request medical care with brain specialists that is consistently denied by doctor and lawyers without expertise in TBI.] Fortunately, the Salvation Army intervened so that I would have have heat and lights last year. Oh my.
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Social Security Disability has been denied twice, as the reviewers do not deem full cognitive abilities are required to sell ‘timeshare’….even if speech is dysfluent, short-term memory severely impaired, compounded by grave disorganization and attention deficits, easily lost to and from home and moreso to and from new places, to name a few cognitive challenges.
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SSDI because it’s inconvenient for an insurance carrier to act and provide coverage in accordance with policy terms? Does the State Controller know? How about the Taxpayers? Governor? Audit time?
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Cost shifting from a paid WorkComp Insurance Policy to the State seems…. rather odd, doesn’t it? California seems to reward non-payment of benefits to injured workers by insurance carriers in thousands of dollars per incident. Is there sufficient money in State coffers to put injured workers on social services lines?
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It has taken Court Orders and Judge time to get basic pain relief such as chiropractic and acupuncture, with total disregard to MTUS and ACOEM and common sense guidelines for immediate interdisciplinary treatment. Is that really the best use of Court time??? It took 15 months for physical therapy authorization of 6 sessions. One “independent” industry doctor stated that since the injured worker (me) didn’t get brain injury care in the first two years, and being “over 35″….. no treatment would be recommended? He teaches neurology at UCLA. God help the next generations!
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Is that an EEOC direct hit? 1. Gender 2. Age. 3. Disability. 
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At one point, the carrier called from Chicago to ask, among other things, in light of non-treatment for nearly 3 years, “…when ARE you going to die?” More recently, defense counsel suggested a ‘court appointed conservator’ since there is such non-acceptance to torture delivered via WorkComp systems and procedures. #DomesticTortureReports-2015 seem necessary and a logical next step.
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Since actual numbers of TBI victims reach well into the many millions, it is easier to see how such a risk management strategy of fast-and-potentially-lethal denials could develop as a cost-savings remedy for carriers.
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What is your experience or policy regarding treatment for brain injuries? Is it more than CNA’s 3-year plan of a few chiropractic, a couple of acupuncture, and a couple of clinical psychology visits, and when pressed, 16 days in the third year to include speech therapy, occupational therapy, and non-specific physical therapy?
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Does return to work ever factor in for closed head trauma, in your experience, or is that age and gender sensitive also?
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Here are two more books that could prove mutually beneficial to the Brain-Injured Populations, and those who purport to serve them.
As a “Finalist” in the #WorkCompLaude 2014 category of InjuredWorker, I have been blessed to meet some of the good people in the WorkComp World, many aghast at my story, or my telling of it.
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As I often say, “WE DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT!”
Let’s ensure that more nominees are included in all categories are included in the 4th Annual #CompLaude Awards Gala on December 5, 2015!
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Asking for assistance from NAIDW.org may prove beneficial to all concerned in the Great Good.
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Let’s also see if we can talk David DePaolo of WorkCompCentral into making it a NATIONAL EVENT….EVEN AN INTERNATIONAL EVENT!
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Some of us envision State Committees of Correspondents convening and nominating to applaud the applaudable and to indict the indictable.
This story about #Nuclear Workers at #Fukushima seems to illustrate the practices of Corporate responses to Work Injuries and Deaths, globally:
#Fukushima NPP,
“No Evidence #TEPCO Was Supervising the Work”
http:/ /t.co/9IEOg6sEWK via @exskf
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Let’s connect in the new year.
WE ARE THE MEDIA NOW
Sincerely,
Linda Ayres
WorkCompLinda@gmail.com
Messages: 760 368 7236
LINKED IN: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindaayres311
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/lindaayres311
gmail: #WorkCompLinda@gmail.com
blog: https://askaboutworkerscompgravytrains.com/
blog: https://askabouttbisurvivorsnow.wordpress.com/
Thanks #WyndhamWorldwide, CNA et al
Ask About Workers Comp Gravy Trains 