Work injury

Back in April I got a laceration on my wrist at work. Approximately a half an inch long and required stitches. Stitches fell out with in a day as I was told to resume work so I kept it covered and such best I could. Shift leader took me to the hospital and it was listed as a recordable. I received one billing notice back at the beginning of August from hospital that they had not been paid and they were not getting any response from the company. I took it in to work and asked them to take care of it. Fast forward Saturday I receive billing again this time from the hospital and the doctor. I no longer work for the company where the injury took place. I accepted an offer from another company a couple of weeks ago. Is it time to get a lawyer? Regular health insurance will not take care of it as it was work related and I am not about to pay 4200 in medical bill that are work related.

Brent said:

Back in April I got a laceration on my wrist at work. Approximately a half an inch long and required stitches. Stitches fell out with in a day as I was told to resume work so I kept it covered and such best I could. Shift leader took me to the hospital and it was listed as a recordable. I received one billing notice back at the beginning of August from hospital that they had not been paid and they were not getting any response from the company. I took it in to work and asked them to take care of it. Fast forward Saturday I receive billing again this time from the hospital and the doctor. I no longer work for the company where the injury took place. I accepted an offer from another company a couple of weeks ago. Is it time to get a lawyer? Regular health insurance will not take care of it as it was work related and I am not about to pay 4200 in medical bill that are work related.

Click to expand...

I'm neither a doctor nor a lawyer, but it seems you should definitely keep all your paperwork that shows dates, treatments, etc.

Regardless of how it all turns out, you'll want to be able to prove it's all over and done with.

Best wishes, and don't let 'em off the hook! They have labor boards for this sort of thing.

https://www.workplacefairness.org/state-agencies

The company should be responsible for payment, workers comp or not. That being said I guess being charged $4200.00 for the injury you describe is questionable.

I thought the bill was high my self but it was emergency room. I am left with a scar but it is the bill I am worried about.

Brent,,
I'm not certain about this but I don't think you should be giving that bill to the employer...
( unless you were working off the books )...
You should be giving that bill to workers comp...
Workers comp should have been notified as soon as the injury happened ( within 24 hours ),,
and they should have assigned a case # to the case...

Try googling workers comp in your state...

Teddy

I was under the impression that the employer carried the workman's comp insurance and they filed.

Brent said:

I was under the impression that the employer carried the workman's comp insurance and they filed.

Click to expand...

You are correct. I was injured 4 times during work in my 32 years in construction and the company handled everything.

The company should file the workers comp claim.

Having dealt with this many times, over the years, with injured employees [mine] in Ga.

Quite simple actually, I just supplied my policy #[workers comp] to Hospital/Doctors, and all was taken care of. My company did not get involved with actual filing, the claimees did that.

Sometimes there was a deductible or small amount that was not covered, by my choice to keep rate down, that I [my company] paid out of pocket.

My employees NEVER paid, when a job related injury occurred, EVEN when it was due to their gross negligence or not following safety regs. That part I found unfair, but so be it.

First thing to do is find out if your previous employer actually had Workers Comp. By law they must give you policy # that was SUPPOSED to cover you. Once you have it, turn it over to all with claims against you & it should go away. You can contact your local state labor board to help if your ex-bosses stonewall you.

Unfortunately you may discover they lied, like so many do, the coverage had expired, or they never had it. Then those involved can go after you directly & it's Law & Order time.

I would first contact whomever was supposed to be handling this....see if they did/did not, before anything else.
Sometimes claims took way too long, more than 6 months, & my company would be bombasted, by those wanting payment.

I have been retired for 10yrs now, so things may have changed, but that's the way it used to be.

Cj's correct..
Read something in Cj's post,,
My company had workers comp insurance..
If one of my employees got hurt on the job
I didn't pay the bills, my workers comp insurance paid the bills...
So if you were working on the books for a company that had workers comp insurance
then that company wouldn't be paying a medical bill and wouldn't be too concerned about it...
This sounds like either---
1-- You weren't working on the books..
Or--
2-- The company didn't have the workers comp insurance they were supposed to by law...
Since I don't believe you would be posting this here if you were working off the books I pick #2
Now read something else in Jim's post,,
The company knows that you are ultimately responsible for the bill that's in your name as far as the hospital and doctor are concerned
From their position---
If they remain quite you WILL get chased down by the hospital and doctor..
There is a possibility you will pay the bill.. They have nothing to loose.. Let's wait and see if he pays the bill,, what the heck, nobody's chasing us down...
This will come down on your shoulders as the bills are in your name..
You must act....
Do not sit quiet....
Google is your friend.....

Teddy

Important!!

In North Carolina, the EMPLOYEE must file form 18. >> Do so immediately if you have not done so already...

Google is your friend

https://ncworkercomp.com/faq/

The most important thing to me is to get the medical bills paid. I would think if there was a form I should have filled out it should have been given to me by my employer. I guess that is why you see all the adds for workman's comp lawyers on TV. I will have my wife contact a lawyer tomorrow.

A lawyer will likely cost as much as the medical bill.

You've gotten good information here... ensure you've filed all appropriate paperwork, then go back to your past employer, get your case #, and supply to the hospital.

Hope everything works out well for you. Still believe the charge for services is way out of line. Emergency room cost is based on levels of service, a minor laceration should be a low level service. Although this happened 4 years ago, my son while snowboarding had to have 3 stitches in his chin. It was 9:00pm and had to go to the hospital emergency room. When the bill came I almost fell over, it cost a total of $130.00, hospital and doctor fees. I thought it would be quite a bit higher. Somethings wrong somewhere with the bill you received.

rcktnut said:

Hope everything works out well for you. Still believe the charge for services is way out of line. Emergency room cost is based on levels of service, a minor laceration should be a low level service. Although this happened 4 years ago, my son while snowboarding had to have 3 stitches in his chin. It was 9:00pm and had to go to the hospital emergency room. When the bill came I almost fell over, it cost a total of $130.00, hospital and doctor fees. I thought it would be quite a bit higher. Somethings wrong somewhere with the bill you received.

Click to expand...

That depends on the consultation. It it required plastics or a hand surgeon, it would be more. 4200 is high though.

I did look up federal and state regulations. Federal organizations are required to do the paperwork for you but non-government employees are required in NC to do their own paperwork. Good call guys.

What really angers me about this I was working for a major corporation. They did their accident investigation and never said anything about any paperwork to fill out. I guess the only thing they were worried about was a drug test. The accident happened in April. Chuck I can email you a copy of the ER and separate doctors bill you may understand the charges better than me but it really was just 5 stiches and cleaning it. I think they gave me a tetanus shot also. My wife made phone calls today and the hospital said that the company would not return their calls. She called the company and was given their insurance company's number who would not return her call.

Now it's time to call the Labor Board. Wanna bet they get things cleared up?

Time for a lawyer. I bet the old company will be happy to get things done. Do they want to pay $4500 or $45000?