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Why You Should Always Seek Medical Attention After A Work Injury

We offer up a strong example of why you should always seek medical attention after you’ve sustained an injury – whether it’s at work or not. Ian T. Hintz, a repair technician for Farmers Cooperative Association in Nebraska, was hard at work last November repairing a tire off a semitrailer when the tire exploded, throwing him approximately 10 feet in the air. Although he was experiencing pain in his hips and groin, Hintz did not seek medical attention because he was afraid to get Farmers “in trouble”. After the incident, he left work and did not return the next day, but did return to work the following Monday.

Hintz continued to work, but indicated that he only did “a little” at the time. Farmers, his employer, claimed the opposite – that Hintz was fully completing all his job assignments. Hintz would have been better off seeking medical attention right away. Less than a month later, Hintz tripped walking up the stairs in his home. After he fell, Hintz went for medical treatment and was referred to a surgeon, who corrected a severe labral tear.

Following his surgery, Hintz was out of work for three months and eventually, terminated by Farmers Cooperative Association. Hintz filed a petition with the Nebraska Workers’ Compensation Court for disability benefits, but his claim was denied. An expert for Farmers testified, after examining medical records (but never Hintz himself), that Hintz’s labral tear was a result of his tripping up his stairs, and not a result of his incident at work. But, Hintz’s surgeon disagreed, testifying that “the labral tear that was corrected in surgery was severe, and it was likely to have been caused by a high-energy work injury, not just falling up the steps.”

Hintz was denied Workers’ Comp. And the sad truth is, had he went for medical treatment following his initial incident and after experiencing pain in both his hips and his groin, Farmers may have granted him Workers’ Comp without choice in the matter since causation of his injury would have been clearly established. Not seeking medical attention after an incident can always put a dent in a plaintiff’s claim. Injuries that are unchecked can become worse. An immediate medical diagnosis (directly following an incident) is imperative in establishing liability against a defendant.

Hintz ended up appealing, and luckily, the appeals court found the compensation court’s decision to be wrong. Hintz presented medical evidence that his labral tear was the result of the November 13th work incident. And furthermore, the surgeon, unlike the medical expert hired by Farmers, was a much more credible source having had performed the surgery on Hintz. His testimony that the labral tear was much more likely to have been caused by a “high-energy work injury” weighed more in the eyes of the appeals court than the testimony of the other medical experts involved in the case.

Remember, no matter what type of incident you are involved with, the faster you seek medical attention the better. You may fear a bad diagnosis, you may not feel you have an injury, or you may fear medical bills…but seeking medical attention is always for the best.