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Work injuries are more common than many people think, and getting one can cause long-term health problems.
However, some issues are more severe than others due to the damage they cause to the victim's body and how difficult it is to treat them. One of the worst things that can happen to someone while working is to get a rotator cuff injury since it doesn't only cause long-term mobility problems but also makes it difficult for the victim to prove they got them at work.
Why would they want to prove they got shoulder injuries at work? Because that's the only way to get workers' compensation. These claims can take a considerable amount of time, but they can also give victims a lot of money to address their medical treatment.
Regardless of that, anyone looking forward to getting a rotator cuff injury settlement in Columbus, OH, needs a decent lawyer to help them throughout the process. Larrimer & Larrimer is a law firm with experts in workers' compensation.
Anyone in need of legal assistance can call this law firm for them to guide them throughout the process and get them the compensation they deserve for their rotator cuff injury. This page also has information about rotator cuff injuries and how workers' compensation claims work in general.
What Are the Causes of a Shoulder Injury at Work?
Although many people don't know what rotator cuff injuries imply, shoulder injuries are common among office workers, programmers, and even gamers. Damaging this area of the human body can make it impossible for people to move their arms freely, raise them, or even move their necks without feeling discomfort and pain.
There are many ways to get rotator cuff injuries. Here are some of them:
Falling Onto the Shoulders
People often get rotator cuff injuries without noticing, and one of the most common ones is when falling onto their arms. This happens the most when falling or landing from a considerable height, so people falling while walking or from a short distance don't have to worry about getting a rotator cuff tear.
Breaking a Fall with the Arms
Similar to the victim's falling onto their shoulders, extending their arms when falling to break the fall can cause major shoulder damage.
In extreme cases, it could break an upper arm bone or something that needs physical therapy in the future. However, it most times requires the victim to get rotator cuff repair surgery after getting a rotator cuff tear.
Those surgeries are expensive, which is what leads people to make a shoulder injury claim. Therefore, most people recommend not to try to break a fall with the arms since, although most people do it without knowing so, it's not the most optimal way to do it.
Lifting Heavy Objects
Most people relate lifting too heavy objects with having a herniated disc, but doing that also causes rotator cuff injuries. However, that problem doesn't always come from lifting something heavy but from using the wrong techniques to do it.
It's also common for people to get a shoulder injury if they perform lifting motions all day.
Injuries coming from lifting heavy objects are more common in construction companies that need to move a lot of materials to different places all day. However, even if that's their job, they still can go for workers' compensation since their bosses need to give them enough time to rest.
Car Accidents
Car accidents are not often included when talking about workers' compensation, but they are one of the most common causes of a shoulder injury. These accidents can damage many parts of the body depending on how severe it is, so anyone involved in one should get themselves checked with a doctor.
Even if they are not included in workers' compensation, victims of car accidents also need the help of lawyers to sue the negligent party who caused the crash. The process to get the funds in both cases is similar since everything depends on the severity of the injuries, the quality of the lawyers, and if the negligent party pleads guilty.
Workers' compensation lawyers also work in personal injury and car crash cases, so victims don't have to contact another law firm to address the situation. Larrimer & Larrimer takes car crash accidents too.
How to Get Compensation for Shoulder Injuries
Getting a decent shoulder injury settlement depends on how good the lawyer the victim hires is. The reason for that is that workers' compensation should be one of the employee benefits for workers when they sign their work contract.
Therefore, most companies and managers should give workers a rotator cuff injury settlement that is enough to take care of all medical expenses if the victim gets a shoulder injury at work or due to the negligence of someone who works for the company.
Unfortunately, many businesses and companies prefer not to spend money on a shoulder injury settlement, so they do everything in their hands to avoid paying for one. Thanks to that, victims can't get enough money for their shoulder injury and end up letting the problem worsen over time and being unable to work.
Victims can't let their employers do that, so they should hire a workers' compensation lawyer that can make the case for them. What those lawyers do is file a lawsuit against negligent employers and companies to get compensation for the victim's rotator cuff tear.
The money the victim receives depends on the quality of the lawyer they hire and how severe their rotator cuff injury is. In a nutshell, victims only need to call a lawyer and ask them to give them consultation on their case.
After that, they need to collect proof of the damage of their rotator cuff injury. This is when the issue gets complex, though, since the victim also has to prove the damage they received was due to something that happened at work.
What most companies do is argue the damage the victim received didn't occur at their office, so they hold no responsibility for it.
If the victim proves the damage they received happened at work, then getting the compensation they want for the rotator cuff injury they got is no problem. However, if the company wants to help the victim pay for everything, things don't have to go that further.
Some cases even end up with both parties going to trial, but that only happens in severe cases. The most likely thing to happen when going through a rotator cuff injury case is the victim and the negligent party getting to an agreement after negotiating for a few days.
Nonetheless, victims of work negligence should never agree to a deal that doesn't benefit them or is not enough for their shoulder surgery.
How Much Is a Torn Rotator Cuff Compensation Worth?
As it was mentioned before, the amount of money the victim receives after getting a rotator cuff injury depends on how severe the damage was and how expensive the treatment for that damage is.
If someone, for example, suffers from a severely torn rotator cuff, but the treatment for that isn't that expensive and only requires them to go to physical therapy, then the compensation they get for it is not as big as it would be for someone needing surgery or expensive medication.
Pain and suffering cases are also on the table depending on where the person lives. When it comes to Florida, most lawyers and insurance adjusters use the multiplier method when calculating pain and suffering, so victims of pain and suffering cases can take advantage of that.
Personal injury settlements are never inexpensive, they can be more expensive or less, but no one would consider them affordable since they can take a lot of money from negligent parties. Even if the victim only needs to go to physical therapy as treatment, pain and suffering cases can take a lot of money from them.
The average workers' compensation settlement of a torn rotator cuff claim is between $30,000 and $500,000. Even if the victim gets the lowest end of the deal, they are still getting a huge amount of money that can help them recover from their injuries without spending that much money on it.
Treatment for a Rotator Cuff Tear
Since the compensation victims get after an accident depends on how severe the accident is and how expensive the treatment for it is, knowing how to heal from a rotator cuff tear can help victims know how much money they can ask for in a workers' comp settlement.
The first thing to know about the matter is that, regardless of how much damage the victim gets to their shoulders, if they have a torn rotator cuff, they need surgery. The reason for that is no one can heal themselves from that kind of injury without external help from a surgeon.
However, people who don't have enough funds to pay for surgery prefer managing their symptoms in the best way possible to ease their pain. Health experts recommend victims of a torn rotator cuff always get surgery, though. There are three types of rotator cuff repair surgery.
First, they have an open repair of their rotator cuff, and that requires them to have a partial detachment of their deltoids. Victims who don't like that idea can go for a mini-open repair that doesn't take that much money or time, but it's not as effective as the first one.
Lastly, victims of a torn rotator cuff can also get arthroscopic repair of their rotator cuff, but it's a more complex surgery than the previously mentioned ones. Therefore, people only go for it if their problem is an extreme one and want to prevent any other similar issue from happening.
Regardless of that, undergoing surgery doesn't mean the person is already fully healed since they still need to stay some days in the hospital. Apart from that, most doctors recommend victims go through physical therapy before going back to work.
The surgery the victim decides to go for and further treatment is considered by insurance adjusters when determining the money the victim can get.
Does Workers' Compensation Apply for All Kinds of Injuries?
The short answer is that it does most times. People can only get workers' compensation benefits if the injuries they got come from a negligent employee of the company who directly or indirectly caused that damage to them. It means that it would not be applicable if you got hurt at home and can't work.
This process is complex, and it can take a lot of time from both the victim and the company paying for everything, so people only go for it in severe situations that caused dangerous damage to them or made them suffer from a lot of anxiety and stress.
Unlike many people think, mental health damage also applies to workers' compensation, but it's more difficult to prove this damage, so it's not that common to see a victim suing a company for it. Mental health issues are included in pain and suffering lawsuits and claims, so they also tend to cost more money to the company.
Conclusion
No one needing medical treatment for a torn rotator cuff or even a slight shoulder pain should let the issue worsen over time. Doing that could lead it to develop into permanent shoulder and neck damage, so time is priceless when addressing these issues.
The only problem with that is that medical treatments are expensive, and not everyone can pay for them overnight. Therefore, if someone gets a torn rotator cuff due to negligence at their workplace, they need to file a workers' compensation claim to get the money they deserve for the accident.
As it was mentioned before, many companies avoid paying those funds to the victims, so they should hire a Columbus workers compensation attorney to take care of the situation. People looking for one in Columbus, OH, can always rely on Larrimer & Larrimer to put their finest lawyers on the case. They can also provide legal assistance if your concern is getting fired due to an injury outside of work.
Hiring these lawyers is not difficult at all since clients only need to go to the company's website and ask for a free consultation for their case. This company can also help victims with independent medical examinations, depositions, and third-party lawsuits.