Do I need a Lawyer?

Maybe you don't. If you have a small, relatively minor injury, one you will heal from quickly and requires no surgery, chances are you will be back to work in a few days or weeks and no lawyer is necessary,

However, if your injury is more serious, one requiring surgery or having a long term impact on your ability to earn a living in the future, you most certainly need a lawyer. You need a law firm on your side early on in your case to monitor your medical care and the legal issues before they become a problem. You can wait until you have a "problem" to call a lawyer, many people do. Or, you can get a lawyer involved early to monitor your claim and insure it stays on track.

I frequently get phone calls from panicked injured workers who have lost their income or medical benefits and want me to "fix it".

Usually I can "fix it", but it takes time to undo the knots tied into the case by the insurance adjuster. Knots that were being tied into their case while they thought everything was going fine. Now their medical care or income benefits have been cut off and they are calling me.

What most people do not realize is that while they are getting medical care, the insurance company was calling, writing and visiting the doctor's office trying to figure out a way to get the doctor to stop your treatment and write you back to work.

Some insurance companies are even bold enough to send a "nurse case manager" with you to your private, confidential doctor's appointment. Why? My experience is they are trying to influence the doctor to do what the insurance company wants done with your medical care, rather then just allowing the doctor to do his job and treat you the way that seems best to him.

Who do you want in charge of your medical care, your doctor, or an insurance company adjuster?

Another challenge is that many times what a doctor puts in writing is different from what they tell the patient. And, when it comes to an administrative law hearing, it's the medical records that count. So, it is important that you have a law firm on your side, reviewing what the doctor is actually putting in writing.

Many times, when we start reviewing medical records we will find that the doctor has prescribed objective testing, or perhaps a psychological evaluation, pain management, physical therapy, a referral to another specialist, etc. and these requests by the doctor are being ignored by the insurance company. Whether intentionally or inadvertently, it doesn't matter. What matters is that the doctor wants some additional medical care that is not being provided.

Most times the patient is not even aware the doctor's desires are not being complied with. Only through our thorough evaluation of the medical records do we find and correct these issues.

When you hire a competent, experienced law firm to represent you, you are freed up to focus on your medical care while we focus on insuring your checks are coming, and your doctor's treatment plan is being followed.

The Georgia Worker's Compensation can be a complex maze of legal and medical twists and turns. You may think your case is going fine at the beginning only to find yourself out of medical help and out of benefits and left wondering how in the world that happened.

If you have an injury that requires surgery or will impact your ability to earn a living in the future, get a law firm on your side to monitor and assist you from the beginning of your claim. Don't wait until your case is off-track to get a law firm on your side. Since we are paid on contingency (25% of any money we get for you, but 0% of benefits already being received) basis, we don't make any more or less money getting involved early or late in the case.

What happens when you get a law firm involved early, is that we keep an eye on your case, keep it on track and insure there is no interruption in your medical care and indemnity benefits.

If you have a serious job injury, get an experienced worker's compensation law firm on your side as early as possible.