If you have an injury or illness that might be covered by workers' compensation, it's important to take the right steps when seeking medical treatment. Getting appropriate medical care is important, not only for your health and recovery, but also for maximizing your workers' comp benefits and making sure that you're properly compensated for your injuries.
Accidents and Injuries in the workplace are common, and may include simple
trips and falls that cause minor injuries, or they cause major life-changing
injuries.
Some accidents are due to poor training and support, while others might be
down to a lack of adequate health and safety procedures. Sometimes there
may have been no assessments of risks or a severe lack of overall
consideration to employee health and safety on the part of the company.
Even with the advancement of medical technology, doctors still rely on patients to report symptoms, severity of pain, and activities that are difficult or impossible to perform. This is especially true for soft tissue injuries; these injuries don't involve bones and often cannot be verified through medical imaging like x-rays. Because some injuries can be more subjective in nature, it's especially important for you to communicate with your doctor about what you're feeling. In doing so, you should follow these guidelines:
You should seek treatment right away for any injury, even if it seems minor. This means seeing a doctor immediately after a work-related accident or at the first sign of any symptoms that might be due to your work duties or to toxic exposure on the job. Getting prompt treatment serves two important purposes: