Hi Goldi. Great info. I'm in year three of a lawsuit and you surely do need to do your homework when suing an insurance company. I'm lucky to have a great lawyer who told me from day one what I was in for. He didn't sugar-coat anything. He told me straight up that I was in for a long roller coaster ride and that if I hang in there, I'll come out ok. I've been through 3 types of mediation, defense medicals, discoveries, etc.etc.
My pre-trial and trial date have been cancelled (I needed surgery)and we are now scheduled for private mediation in May. This is the last step, thankfully. It has taken a long time to get here, no thanks to the system that doesn't take the victim into consideration. Thanks for posting the info. Too many injured parties give up under pressure before receiving compansation, or are forced to pull out because of lack of finances. Examine ALL of your options.
Jana

I too am dealing with Insurance company as I was hurt at work. I was forced to get an Attorney as they treated me badly from the begining. I let my attorney do all my battles, he has been good. I personally have grown to dislike insurance companies and probalby always will. You are so correct, they care absolutely nothing the patient,Not at all,,My attorney told me the only thing they would like would be for me to disappear. Well that is not happening. Good advice Goldi

I am on worker's comp and didn't apply for social security until after I had been disabled over a year but because I had enrolled in school to retrain and hopefully return to work so I was denied Social Security. I also sued but because I was suing the state of wyoming I was only able to get a very limited amount of money for my injury and life time medical I know in 1 year my medical bills for one year were well over 30,000 dollars it is still difficult because for the rest of your life you have to deal with a terrible insurance company. I was also told that if I ever leave the state that I will have to settle the life time medical because not all doctors in all states accept Wyoming workman's Comp. They said that they would base the payment on the cost of my medical care during the last 2 year. And then multiply this amount by some equation based on my expected life expectancy. I know that in the next 2 or 3 years when I finish school i will be moving because there are no jobs in my field of study in the state of wyoming. So i know that i have some very hard decisions to make. Steph

Good grief to anyone on Worker's Comp!
For me that had been a ride through hell on a roller coaster--I had 3 different attorneys--finally that 3rd one took control and had stayed on top of all the medical submissions my doctor had requestted--Most of the time the woker's comp denied me medical services--but my lawyer appealed and finally I was allowed to seek medical treatment--I stayed with worker's comp till I could apply for Social Security, that was another brain buster--and what's so interesting is, when I had the injury, I worked for The Ohio Dept Of Health--Currently, my lawyer is getting a financial settlement and since I'm on Medicare, everything that worker's comp refused to have medically done, Medicare will pick up the tab--
But, what a wacked out service they have for injured worker's--an organization that absolutley needs re-structuring.
And to think, we pay for these services through our tax monies--and employers who pay into that service.
Bless us one and all,
suzznews

WOW i thought it was only the CT workers comp that was such a mess,,is it Nation wide??

you need to know all that and that the other side will lie.wheels

I too are trying to find a lawyer that will take my case. I never realized how much work it is to try to get anything out of my surgeon's insurance. The case seems very simple. I had no pain before surgery, and immediately when I woke up I had it. Duh, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that he did something to me that shouldn't have happenend. My medical bills are close to the $100,000 mark. I am just 41 years old and this can not be fixed. Ands it looks like there is no cure. So how much longer can I work? Nobody even knows, today I was sent home because of the pain. So financially it would be devistating to my family. Yet I am not trying to become rich, I just want my bills paid for, and still according to the lawyers, I have a case that is almost impossible to prove. The doctors have all said that they couldn't say that I have a nerve in a place nobody else does. And they can not prove it. But think, I was the first time anybody has had complications like this after a laproscopic gall-bladder surgery. My pain doc has been doing his job for 10 years and he has never seen damage like this before. But, I still don't have a case. I have contacted my state representative and discussed this with him. He also doesn't know why I can't get retrobution. So I see it as a problem with the victim being punished, not the surgeon who caused the problem.

I know my case is totally different than the rest of yours but I'm angry and I'm going to tell you all anyway cuz then I'll feel better. I worked for 33 years for a large company. At age 18 all of the older women there talked me into taking long term disability. I thought it was a waste of money but I listened to them and paid premiums for 32 years. My illness started with migraines at 18 and in my thirties I started to have pain in my neck and back. Slowly the pain continued until it took over my whole body. Fibromyalgia. I left my 40 hour job and took a job that paid less plus at half the hours I was not in good financial shape. The next ten years I got worse and worse. The last year I was working 1 or 2 6 hour days a week. And even that was exhausting. Finally the day after Christmas a year ago I had a severe pain and fatigue episode where I was so exhausted I vomited all night. I never went back. So, here comes my long term disability right? Wrong. The first thing they made me do is file for SSD. I did this so I could get my LTD. After half a year and a lawyer later they turned me down and turned down my appeal. By then however by some miracle of God Social Security accepted me the first time. I had read so much that said it would be a long haul with fibromyalgia and was glad I had my LTD. So I paid all those years for nothing. Now I hate Met Life but I thank God for the government!

HI - YOU ARE SOOOOOOOOOOOOO RIGHT !!!!!!!!!! I HAVE GONE DOWN THE SAME ROAD

I KNOW I AM THE AUTHOR OF THIS DISCUSSION BUT IT SOUNDS LIKE TO ME WE NEED TO KEEP THIS INFORMATION IN THE UTMOST FRONT CATEGORY FOR ALL OF THOSE THAT ARE INJURED AFTER US. THE GOVERNMENT, INSURANCE COMPANIES AND WORKER'S COMP WILL SCREW ALL OF US THEY CAN UNLESS WE BAND TOGETHER. KEEP THIS INFO IN THE FOREFRONY FOR ALL OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS THAT ARE INJURED. THANKS FOR YOUR HELP AND SPREAD THE WORD ON ALL YOUR SITES. GOD BLESS YOU ALL! ALL MY LUV AND HUGS, GOLDI, AND MAY TOMORROW BE A LESS PAINFUL DAY THAN TODAY!

I was hurt at work in 1995 my attorney did settle but they are to carry lifetime med.treatment on the injury(right knee)I am having trouble getting them to pay for perscriptions and Dr.appt.
I was diag.w/osteoarthritisin the knee and it has started in the left.
They are trying to say that osteo arth.And possible knee replacemant is NOT related to the work comp injury.So I am have been fighting that crap for 6 mo. now.

sadly you have to fight insurance companies for everything.Do you have an Attorney? I have learned that is te only way to deal with them. Insurance is one way..we pay them,they do not pay us.Our country realy needs to address this mess.Realy ticks me off so I won't get going on it. But you have to fight for every thing,good luck,,keep fighting
Deb

HI AGAIN YOUR SOOOOO RIGHT AGAIN!!!! I WOULD LOVE TO HELP YOU IN WHAT EVER I CAN PLEASE LET ME KNOW -- JACK -- PS AND WHEN ITS ALL OVER THE LAST SLAP IN YOUR FACE IS PAYING YOUR LAWYER - I HAD TO GIVE MINE 1/3 AND YOU DO MOST OF THE WORK MY LAWYER WON MY CASE WITH MY HELP AND DONT FEEL LIKE I-WE SHOULD HAVE TO PAY SO MUCH -- HAVENT WE PAID ALL READY AND AFTER THAT YOU HAVE ALL YOUR BILLS TO PAY AND YOUR CREDIT GOS TO HELL GOD!!! WE REALLY NEED TO CHANGE THINGS!!

you need to be prepared that a jury will believe the lies of the other side and know that anything they say to you that was not under oath in a lawyers office is hearsay and a jury can't hear it.dollar general told me they made a mistake but it wasn't like i died.my lawyer said because they where not under oath i couldn't tell the jury that.wheels

Mine is a car accident case,i have been in constant pain for 3 & 1/2 yrs.I am now ready 2 settle my case but the ins.co.is dragging their feet...what else is new.They're right there when u pay ur bill to them but when it comes to paying u then they want u 2 just forget about it!Well,that's not going to happen bet u me!So,yes i'm very sick of how the insurance co.'s work.They're only out for themselves & that's just not right!So,thank u Goldigirl for this post!