How a Pain Journal Can Help Support Your Workers' Compensation Case
After a work-related injury, your employer's workers' compensation insurance coverage should kick in. Not everyone has an easy time getting paid the benefits they deserve, though. Read on and learn about a way to both document and demonstrate how your workplace injury is affecting you.
What To Expect in Benefits
Though it can vary slightly, most workers can expect similar benefits after an injury. You don't have to wait until a claim is filed to see a doctor, and you should seek medical care immediately after an injury or illness. Let the medical facility know that your injury is work-related and be sure to explain to the doctor how your condition relates to your job. Once your claim is approved, hurt workers may be paid a partial wage while they recuperate at home. If the injury is deemed permanent, a lump-sum payment may be paid rather than the weekly disability wage.
What Is a Pain Journal?
Journaling has become increasingly popular for many reasons. Journaling is thought to be therapeutic for mental health reasons and it can help many people get through stressful situations. Some personal injury lawyers have recommended that their clients use pain journals to help them deal with accident injuries because the journal can be used as evidence in some cases. In addition, at the very least, journaling can provide accident victims with a memory enhancement tool. Journaling may be helpful as the victim copes with complex legal and medical issues.
When Your Claim Is Denied
Keeping a pain journal could help you if your workers' comp claim is denied. Claims get denied all the time for various reasons. With journal entries, you can establish a timeline between the time of the injury to the present including details that you might have missed if you had not written them down. For example, you might realize until writing about it that there was a witness to the accident. Witnesses can add credence and strength to your claim for benefits. Use your journal to record the following:
- A summary of the accident or when you began noticing symptoms of an occupational illness.
- Each medical appointment. Include details like the date and time, who you saw, and what occurred. Include diagnostic testing and surgeries too.
- Each medication prescribed and the side-effects of it.
- Each conversation, in person or on the phone, you have with your employer, the workers' compensation insurance company, and your lawyer. If don't have a lawyer, a disputed claim is a sign that you need one.
Speak to a workers' compensation attorney about getting the compensation you deserve for your work-related injury to get help with your claim.