Wisconsin Workers Compensation Lawyer Blog

The vast majority of people who are receiving workers' compensation benefits are doing all they can to improve their health so they can get back to work. Usually, this involves regular doctor's visits so the physician can recommend treatments to improve the patient's work-related injury or illness. Without medical assistance, it can be difficult for the injured worker to rehabilitate him- or herself.

So it likely would be frustrating when you are unable to visit a doctor because the state workers' compensation commission says you can't. That is what happened to a woman who injured her knee on the job.

The stumbling American economy has adversely affected injured workers. It is more difficult for injured workers to return to work now, according to a study performed by the Workers' Compensation Research Institute (WCRI). The report was issued in late November by the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based institute. According to the study, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin are deemed to have higher rates of injured workers returning to work than other states.

In today's climate of high unemployment, injured workers find it more difficult to return to work, leading to more people requiring workers' compensation disability benefits for a longer period of time. Moreover, when injured workers do return to work, it is more challenging to find jobs with modified duties that would allow them to ease back in to work while they recover from their disability. Employers are reluctant to lay off another employee in order to bring back an injured worker on light duty, particularly when there are concerns the employee may be susceptible to further disability issues.

It is a tragedy whenever an industrial accident takes a life. No one should have to make the ultimate sacrifice just for doing their job. Yet, workplace accidents take place everyday across the nation and Wisconsin is no exception. Such was the case recently when one worker was killed and another critically injured while mixing varies chemical compounds.

The accident took place a Dodge County manufacturing plant. The two workers were overcome by chemical fumes which left a 55-year-old man dead and a 65-year-old man with serious injuries. The injured man was listed in critical condition but was able to breathe and is making progress toward recovery.

According to a study by the Workers Compensation Research Institute called the "Medical Price Index for Workers' Compensation (MPI-WC)," the price for non-hospital services for injured workers rendered in Wisconsin during 2010 was higher than each of the other 25 states studied. It was also more than twice the price of the median cost for workers' comp across all states studied. The costs were nearly 50 percent more than the median of the six states that have no fee schedule.

The study covers nine years of price statistics. Over those nine years, the prices in Wisconsin were not only the highest but also the most rapidly rising, showing an increase of 42 percent. That is a much greater increase than the median growth rate, which is 11 percent in the states that have fee schedules and 28 percent in the states without fee schedules.