What Injuries Qualify for Workers’ Compensation?

In a bygone era, the Illinois workers’ compensation system was flush with cash, so there was plenty of money to divide among injured victims. But workers’ compensation premiums have declined significantly in recent years. As a result, there is less money available, and Claims Examiners are stingier than ever.

The premium decline is partially a result of lawmakers decreasing these costs in the name of attracting businesses to the state. Politicians do not always do what is best for job injury victims, but a Rockford workers’ compensation lawyer is on your side. Workers’ compensation is only one of the possible legal options for job injury victims. An attorney evaluates your claim and determines the maximum amount of compensation available.

Trauma Injuries

Falls are the leading cause of lost workdays in Illinois. These victims often sustain a full range of trauma injuries, such as:

• Head Injuries: Contrary to popular myth, the motion of a fall, as opposed to a trauma impact, often causes a brain injury. This motion causes the brain to slam against the inside of the skull. Nevertheless, brain injuries are normally trauma injuries for workers’ compensation purposes.
• Blood Loss: This same motion causes internal organs to grind against each other. Since livers, kidneys, and other such organs have no protective skin layer, they often bleed very badly. In fact, many work-related trauma injury victims lose a fifth of their blood supplies.
• Broken Bones: Serious falls usually do not simply break bones. They usually crush them. Since doctors must use highly invasive measures to reconstruct these bones, these victims usually must deal with permanent injuries, even after doctors and physical therapists do their very best.

Temperature and chemical burns also cause a significant number of work-related trauma injuries in the Prairie State. Temperatures as low as 115 degrees could cause a serious burn. Chemical burns often affect the ear, nose, and throat. Since chemical burns often trigger no pain reaction, these injuries often affect the lungs as well.

Since these victims almost always miss significant amounts of work, the wage replacement benefit is very important to these victims. Workers’ compensation normally pays two-thirds of the victim’s average weekly wage for the duration of a temporary disability.

Occupational Diseases

The wage replacement benefit is also available in occupational disease cases. These conditions develop over the course of more than one work shift.

Hearing loss is the most common occupational disease in Illinois. Exposure to sounds as low as 35 decibels, which is basically the noise level in a grade school cafeteria, could cause permanent hearing loss.

If doctors intervene early enough, a simple hearing aid could address the problem. But most hearing loss victims do not run to the doctor at the first sign of hearing loss. Therefore, by the time they see doctors, the only alternative is risky and invasive surgery which corrects issues in the inner ear.

These medical interventions are also quite expensive. Fortunately, workers’ compensation usually pays all reasonably necessary medical expenses. This category includes all direct and indirect costs.

Reach Out to a Hard-Working Winnebago County Workers’ Compensation Attorney

Accident victims are usually entitled to substantial compensation. For a free consultation with an experienced Rockford workers’ compensation attorney, contact Fisk & Monteleone, Ltd by going online or calling 815-315-0574. Home, virtual, and hospital visits are available.