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LOUISIANA WORKERS COMPENSATION MEDICAL
BENEFITS
Louisiana employers are required to provide medical care to any
employee who is injured in the course and scope of their
employment. If your employer refuses to authorize or arrange
medical care for you, you should get treatment on your own
as soon as possible and have your attorney provide your
employer with a copy of the billing information. Delaying
medical care may cause your condition to worsen
unexpectedly, resulting in substantially more time missed
from work.
It's also important that you get a written statement from
the doctor about your work-status. You may need to
specifically ask your doctor for a note that says whether you can go back to
work or not. If the doctor releases you to return to
light-duty, the note should outline your restrictions and an
estimate of how long those restrictions are expected to
last. You may need to provide your employer (or their
insurance company) with a copy of the note from the doctor
before they will begin your Louisiana Workers Compensation
income
benefits. Additionally, many employers will not allow you to
return to come back to work following a job-related injury
without a doctor's note releasing you to unrestricted duty.
SELECTING
YOUR DOCTORS
As a general rule, you're allowed to select the doctor that
will be your treating physician. The doctor you select
does not have to be included on a list of "approved doctors"
maintained by your employer or their Louisiana Workers Compensation
insurance company. But the law is very strict and you can
easily forfeit your right to pick your own doctor by acting
hastily. The Louisiana Workers Compensation Act states:
If the employee is treated by any physician to whom he is
not specifically directed by the employer or insurer, that
physician shall be regarded as his choice of treating
physician.
When the employee is specifically directed to a physician by
the employer or insurer, that physician may also be deemed
as the employee's choice of physician, if the employee has
received written notice of his right to select one treating
physician in any field or specialty, and then chooses to
select the employer's referral as his treating specialist
after the initial medical examination as signified by his
signature on a choice of physician form.
* * *
If the employee fails or refuses to sign the form as
provided [by the statute], the employer or his insurer shall
be entitled to seek an expedited hearing to be held within
ten days, and upon order of the court, may suspend medical
benefits until such time as the employee complies with [the
requirements of the statute]. More:
La.R.S. 23:1121.
In addition to selecting your primary treating doctor, you're also allowed to select additional doctors in other
medical specialties if the treatment that they provide is
medically necessary and applies to your work-related
condition. You're usually not allowed to see two doctors of
the same medical specialty without first getting the
Workers Compensation insurance company's consent.
Generally, you've got to have a really good and persuasive
reason for wanting to switch doctors. Sometimes it's just
more effective to ask your doctor for a referral for a
second opinion.
If the insurance company refuses to allow you to switch to
another doctor, you should contact an attorney. Your
attorney may be able to help you obtain approval from the
Louisiana Workers Compensation Court despite the insurance company's
initial denial of your request to see a new doctor.
You should expect different types of treatment from each
of the three categories of doctors you may see in the course
of your Louisiana Workers Compensation claim, including:
- The doctor you selected to be your primary treating
physician for your work-related injury.
- The doctor who was selected by the Louisiana Workers
Compensation insurance company to provide them with a
Second Medical Opinion SMO.
- The doctor selected by the Louisiana Office of
Workers Compensation Medical Services Division or the
Louisiana Workers Compensation Judge to perform an
Independent Medical Examination IME.
Considering the current state of the law, it's wise to
consider whether it's prudent to continue treating with a
doctor you were sent to by the Louisiana Workers Compensation
insurance company. Physicians have very different points of
view on the type of care that should be provided to people
who were injured at work. They select different types of
medical test, medication and consultations with other
specialists. They suggest different types of surgeries and
sometimes even seem to expect their patients to recover
faster or slower depending upon whether or not their injury
happened on the the job. Your doctor's opinion about your
condition, and the type of medical treatment they offer you, will have a
tremendous impact upon the extent of your recovery and the
outcome of your case.
Next:
What If Your Medical Treatment Is Denied?
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