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The injured employee was a nurse who was injured while assisting a patient. The injured employee was lifting the patient up from the bed and into a wheelchair when the injured employee heard a loud pop in her back and immediately suffered intense back pain.
The injured employee’s MRI results indicated a bilateral neural foraminal narrowing at L5-S1, and a disc bulging at L5-S1 with a large annular tear.
The injured employee underwent physical therapy and two epidural steroid injections, but her condition did not improve.
The employee treated with a pain medicine specialist and a physiatrist, as well as an orthopedic surgeon.
Even though the injured employee had not reached Maximum Medical Improvement (MMI) and continued to require medical treatment, the employee chose to seek, and eventually received, a lump sum settlement, because the employee did not want to undergo the surgery which had been prescribed for her.
Additionally, the employee’s employer went out of business, and on the way out of business, even tried to assert that the employee had resigned (which would have eliminated the employee’s lost wage benefits).
However, swift legal action prevented the elimination of the employee’s lost wage benefits and allowed the employee’s weekly indemnity benefits to continue, and future lost wage benefits to be included in the full and final settlement.
The injured employee received a total of $146,498 in compensation from the workers compensation insurance company, including a full and final settlement of $95,000.
