While the work comp carrier will tell you that they need your statement to investigate your claim, experienced Fort Pierce workers’ compensation lawyers know it is really to try and deny your claim if at all possible.
You have probably seen on tv, or in movies, police officers arresting someone and saying that the suspects have the right to remain silent and that anything they say can and will be used against them.
Well, an insurance company investigator or adjuster may not tell you that up front, but the same applies in work comp when they want to take your statement. Anything, and everything, you say to them can and will be held against you if it might possibly, even in the slightest, help the insurance company deny medical care and not pay lost wage benefits.
As Fort Pierce FL work injury lawyers, we have seen time and time again how the workers’ compensation insurance adjusters love to close files and deny care for even the smallest matter and under the worst circumstances.
On one occasion a statement was taken by an investigator of an injured worker who was in the hospital and medicated. There is simply no way a statement should ever be taken when someone is medicated, yet they thought that would be the right thing to do. Needless to say, the information they obtained could not be used against that individual.
Could you imagine an adjuster wanting to take information from a worker who had suffered a head injury, was seeing stars and hearing ringing? How many answers do you think would be provided accurately and how many were provided just to make the questions stop?
When it comes to work comp, work injury compensation lawyers know how the insurance companies operate: immediately after you have been hurt at work take your statement about past medical care or prior accidents or incidents from five, ten or twenty years ago. After being injured on the job, do you want to sit and answer questions to things you haven’t thought about in decades or would you like to receive medical care and attention?
Sometimes a statement or information is necessary to help show the work comp insurance companies why or how something happened. But when that situation arises, a dedicated and experienced Fort Pierce workers’ compensation attorney should be your advocate.
If you have been hurt at work you should report your claim, seek medical care and immediately call a work injury lawyer. We can advise you how to proceed with your case, how to obtain medical care and lost wages and how to make sure that you do not provide the workers’ compensation carrier with any ammunition they can use against you. Contact the Law Offices of Franks, Koenig & Neuwelt for a free case evaluation.
