Louisiana Workplace Slip & Fall Lawyer
Serious falls usually cause permanent injuries. Some wounds, like broken bones, never completely heal. For example, the victim may have some permanent loss of motion in a broken shoulder. Head injuries are permanent as well. Once brain cells die, they never regenerate. Falls cause emotional injuries as well. The extreme stress often causes Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. A chemical imbalance in the brain causes PTSD, making this condition very difficult to treat. Additionally, many fall victims withdraw from social activities and fall into deep depressions.
The compassionate Louisiana work slip & fall lawyer at Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe understand these physical and emotional consequences. Many of the people on our professional team are also fall injury survivors. This compassion motivates us to work around some summon insurance company defenses, like the pre-existing conditions defense. Often, a bad knee or bad eyesight contributes to the severity and/or risk of a fall. Our lawyers gather evidence which shows that the job injury aggravated the pre-existing condition, instead of vice versa. So, maximum benefits are available.
Lost Wages
Falls have extremely long recovery periods. Several months without a paycheck, or even several weeks without a check, is financially devastating to most families. So, wage replacement is an important part of workers’ compensation benefits. The benefits categories are:
- Temporary Total Disability: If the aforementioned injuries aren’t disabling and victims can return to work full time, workers’ compensation usually pays two-thirds of their average weekly wage until doctors clear them to return to work.
- Temporary Partial Disability: In a few cases, fall injury victims can get around on a limited basis. But, they must drastically reduce their work hours or accept light duty assignments. If the new income is lower than the old income, and it usually is, workers’ compensation usually pays two-thirds of the difference.
- Permanent Total Disability: A fall from a height is usually disabling. Other catastrophic fall injuries are disabling as well. In these situations, workers’ compensation usually makes a lump sum payment to compensate these victims for future lost wages.
- Permanent Partial Disability: We mentioned broken bones that never completely heal above. No amount of money could possibly make up for lost function in a knee, shoulder, or other area of the body. However, a workers’ compensation lump sum payment helps these victims move on with their lives.
A Louisiana slip and fall at work lawyer may also obtain long-term disability benefits in many of these cases. These benefits often help victims transition to a different career, if they’re physically incapable of working at their old jobs.
Medical Bills
Lost wage replacement is only part of the puzzle. Workers’ compensation also pays all reasonably necessary medical bills, such as:
- Ambulance or medevac costs,
- Emergency care,
- Follow-up care,
- Medical devices,
- Prescription drugs, and
- Physical or occupational therapy.
Insurance adjusters often challenge the medical bill amounts in these cases. Adjusters are eager to approve the cheapest approaches. They’re less eager to approve the approaches that actually help victims recover quickly.
Count on a Dedicated Orleans Parish Attorney
Injury victims are entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Louisiana slip and fall at work lawyer, contact Lunsford, Baskin & Priebe, LLC. You have a limited amount of time to act.
