TULSA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION HEAD & BRAIN INJURIES
Typically head and brain trauma cases are the most contentious and frustrating on-the-job injuries for both the employer and the injured worker. At the beginning of the case all may appear to be going well with medical treatment, weekly benefits and even in some cases sympathy being provided by the employer. However, head and brain injuries are generally slow to heal and as such over time the situation and relationship between the parties can quickly deteriorate. The employer may question why the worker needs additional treatment and time to heal, and find the ongoing symptoms from which the employee complains bizarre and inconsistent with what it would expect from such an injury. These same symptoms can be quite upsetting and frustrating to the injured worker and his or her family as well—and even lead to family discord and relationship problems for the injured worker, further complicating a delicate situation and resulting in the employee losing his or her valuable support system and potential treatment advocates.
Typical head and brain injuries common to the job site include, but are not limited to, closed head injuries (“CHI”) and traumatic brain injuries (“TBI”) as well as various forms of skull fractures, including “depressed skull fractures”. These type of head/brain injuries are routinely treated by neurosurgeons and/or neurologists, with the former performing surgery to relieve swelling on the brain or to stop a bleed, or even both. To help better define the medical problem these specialists may cause the injured worker to undergo various diagnostic tests including MRIs, CT scans, EEGs and the like. However, in all but the most grave situations, these studies whether performed directly after the injury or over time normally do not reveal any gross abnormality of the brain–which leads the employer and specifically its insurer in the typical case to believe that no further treatment is indicated under the circumstances and that other benefits should rightly be terminated, or even worse to conclude that the worker is exaggerating his or her injury for what it calls “secondary gain”. Certainly a brain injured workers’ compensation claimant can have a devastating and permanent brain injury and have negative findings on the classic diagnostic testing performed in brain and head injury cases. In many such cases employers and insurers will, in light of these negative findings (as well as recent changes in the Oklahoma workers’ compensation law requiring that a workers’ injury be proven by objective or anatomical findings of trauma), attempt to minimize the nature and extent of the injury or deny the injury altogether.
Most significant brain and head injuries will also lead to secondary or consequential injuries or conditions, most notably psychiatric or psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”), obsessive-compulsive disorders (“OCD”) or even a personality disorder. Such medical conditions should rightly be considered as part of and resulting from the original head injury and proper development of the claim is necessary for this in fact to occur. Certainly employers and their insurance carriers will vehemently deny that such conditions are part of the established claim and will resist any attempts by the claimant to bring these psychiatric and psychological impairments within the scope of the original claim. In many instances employers will assert that any ongoing cognitive or behavioral problems are not a direct result of the brain or head trauma but are instead pre-existing or incidental conditions for which they are not responsible. To achieve this result many employers will seek out and obtain any available medical and other records of previous psychiatric treatment or counseling received by the injured worker as well as rely upon recent changes in the Oklahoma workers’ compensation law which requires that the work-related injury or trauma be the “major cause” of the resulting injury or disability. However, major cause does not mean the only cause, and any aggravation of an underlying and pre-existing mental or emotional condition, such as depression, should be fully compensated as part of the work-related injury if the case is properly developed.
Serious head and brain injuries will result in permanent impairment of both an injured worker’s lifestyle and most importantly his or her earning capacity. Although vocational rehabilitation will be available to those suffering from head trauma serious enough to prevent return to his or her usual occupation, retraining may be difficult for one suffering from cognitive impairment and personality changes following a traumatic brain injury. These changes may effectively prevent the injured worker’s re-entry into the workforce in any meaningful way and warrant an award of permanent total disability benefits. THE ASH LAW FIRM understands the unique challenges facing brain injured workers and has successfully handled many cases of this type. Please call one of our attorneys for a no-obligation, confidential review of your head or brain injury case. You and your family’s future economic security may depend upon choices you make today.
