Can worker comp refuse treatment of on the job injury if you refuse to sign a medical release of prior medical
Can worker comp refuse treatment of a on the job injury if you refuse to sign a medical release of prior medical history. My back injury has nothing to do with any other medical problem I’ve ever had. My prior medical history is all in the military. I’m a disable veteran but injury is not related in any way to my back. Oh, I never mention I was a disabled veteran when applying for my job due to not wanting them to us it against me/ not hire me. We now have a new director of my agency and immediately started digging for information on me found out that I was disabled and reported to workers comp. Now worker comp won’t treat me without me signing a medical release. Is this legal? My real issue here is this is my personal records not just work records.
I read some of the answer and I don’t get where I “lied”, and think I was miss understood. My injury in the military was related to my shoulder. My workers comp claim is a back injury. The point I was trying to make but maybe not clear enough is that when I started my current job almost two years ago I didn’t mention I was a veteran, because I was not asked. Now that I got hurt on the job the big boss found out I was in the military and tried to convince workers comp that the injury was pre- existing. Which is was not. So that it was not the jobs responsibility to cover medical and try to put it on the VA to pay.
I didn’t mention before is I original didn’t sign the HIPPA (release of medical history) do to how it was written it stated that the recipient of my medical will not be responsible in anyway for release on my information to others. It stated I waive my right to hold recipient responsible for the release of my record to unauthorized people.
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Actually, yes it is.
For two reasons – one if this is a personal injury then workers comp has a right to know that it existed before you received the previous injury, and two you cannot effectively and safely be treated without our treating physicians knowing your previous medical history (and no your says so isn’t good enough).
These records are for the purpose to medical treatment and claim process – they cannot be released to your employer.
You lied to your employer and now you are in a bad situation – you will probably need to retain a workers comp attorney at this point because it will be all up hill from here.
Yes, it’s legal. Comp needs to see on record that the injury in question is not already in your medical history or related to it. It’s one of the many ways they have of preventing fraud. If you truly want the comp help and benefits, it would be in yoru best interest to comply with their requests. They can (and will) deny your claim if you obstruct their investigation in any way.
I don’t know what the laws are in your state, so I would recommend two things.
#1 you should contact the VA. As a disabled veteran, they have a lot of services available to you. They will be able to help you out with what your rights are in regards to releasing your medical records from your time in the service. There are also a lot of non-profit disabled veterans groups who may be able to help you if the VA won’t/can’t.
#2 you may want to consider looking into getting a lawyer. Lots of lawyers (especially worker’s comp ones) will do a free consultation where they look at what you have to say and help you determine if it’s something you can handle on your own or if they can help you.
I wouldn’t sign anything before you do at least one or the other of these. If worker’s comp is questioning whether this is a pre-existing condition, you may not need to make all the medical records public. There may be a way for the VA to only release pertinent records to your situation, etc.
I know several disabled veterans who do not announce the fact that they are such. There are many things that can cause the military to issue “disabled” status. Not all of which are physical disabilities even. Many people also don’t understand the difference between 100% disabled and the various lesser degrees of disability. Unless your employer specifically asked at some point in the hiring process if you were in the military and if so why you were discharged, then you didn’t lie about it. If they don’t ask, then you can’t lie.
The real sad thing is that a disabled vet would have to lie to work when ppl that have never served the country tell lies and get away with truly bad things. You were looking out for you and now you gotta make sure you get workers comp to ante up. Get a good lawyer that will make the point that you felt you had to lie to get the job.
Yep…don’t worry about it. Even if you had a prior injury in the exact same location, they are still responsible for the new (aggravated) injury…
1. Bottom line, your adjuster has a right to your medical records. With that in mind, there are 2 possible scenarios.
a. If your claim has been accepted, then no they cannot withhold medical treatment just because you haven’t signed a medical release.
b. If your claim has been delayed so they can investigate then they can deny your claim on the basis that you won’t cooperate with their investigation.
HOWEVER, that doesn’t mean you are not entitled to your privacy. Just because your adjuster has a right to your records that doesn’t mean your employer does. Your adjuster has a duty to make sure that the records they do obtain is not shared with anyone except your work comp doctors.
2. Having a prior injury does not bar you from work comp benefits. Work comp has a duty to return you to your pre-incident condition. For example, if you already had a pre-existing 10 degree loss of motion in your knee and you hurt that knee again further decreasing your range of motion, then work comp has a duty to return you to that original 10 degree loss.
3. Your boss is not the work comp adjuster. Once you report a work related injury, your employer has a duty to report that injury to the work comp company. It is the adjuster’s job (not your boss’s) to determine what is work related and what is not. Your boss can voice his suspicions to the adjuster, but that doesn’t make your claim not accepted for work comp.
4. If you claim becomes denied (not compensable), then you can still have your case heard by the state agency that governs work comp matters. Your adjuster should tell you how to have your day in court.