Spinal cord injuries are among the most unfortunate kinds of incidents that may occur at a workplace. These kinds of injuries can have lifelong impacts, radically altering the course of your life. Our Indianapolis, IN work injury attorneys know how these incidents can affect households, which is why our focus is always on the lives and livelihoods of workers.
When people are denied insurance benefits after a spinal cord injury, it can lead to frustration and a hopeless sense of resignation. Our lawyers can help with these matters, whether the injury has short-term repercussions or changes your life entirely.
Short-Term Impact of Spinal Cord Injuries
For some injuries that involve the spine, such as slipped discs or pinched nerves, the overall impact on your life may be short term following successful treatment. You’ll need to take time off from work to recuperate, and could require some minimally invasive medical treatment.
Returning to work, you may find your movement is limited and you may need to go easy on some of your traditional work duties. Eventually you should be able to return to most if not all of your normal work duties, with care taken to avoid aggravating the injury.
Long-Term Impact of Spinal Cord Injuries
For severe spinal injuries, the changes to your life can be long-term and possibly lifelong. Fractures to the vertebrae and severe disc injuries could require surgery that impacts your mobility and back strength. Catastrophic spinal cord injuries can result in paralysis of the lower extremities or the loss of use of all extremities.
Many people who suffer from severe spinal cord injuries will face new limitations in their career and their daily lives. Even with spinal fusion surgery and other procedures, the spine could be weaker or harder to move. Adjusting to these changes can be extremely difficult.
How Insurance Companies Should Provide Assistance
Given the cost of medical care, insurance companies should ideally approve legitimate insurance claims and help injured individuals get the help they need. Sadly, this is not always the case, resulting in legal battles with insurance providers.
Denial of Legitimate Claims
We often hear of people who have legitimate and severe spinal cord injuries having their claims denied. Sometimes these issues involve problems with paperwork or documentation, yet other times these denials stem from insurance companies trying to pinch pennies, the only concern being their bottom line rather than another person’s life.
Downplaying the Severity of the Injury
In some denied claims, insurance companies will suggest that the injury the person experienced was not severe. They’ll suggest the spinal injury is actually a soft tissue injury, and proceed to deny your claim. These tactics cannot be tolerated when people’s lives and livelihoods are on the line.
Claiming the Aggravated Injury Was a Pre-Existing Condition
Another tactic of insurance companies is to claim that the spinal cord injury the person experienced was just an aggravation of a previous injury. In these cases, the insurance company will claim that the recent spinal injury is a pre-existing condition, denying your legitimate claim.
How Our Work Injury Lawyers Can Help
Our work injury lawyers have helped countless people with denied claims and the overall insurance claim process. We can help you fight a denied insurance claim and receive the benefits that are entitled to you. Throughout the process, we will put your interests first. The problems of real people are more important than insurance companies trying to save money by acting unethically and amorally.
Learn More About Insurance Company Disputes
For more information about your legal rights and options after a major spinal cord injury, be sure to contact the attorneys of Golitko & Daly. We will help you and your loved ones in your time of legal need.