How to Get Rid of a Horrible Doctor

[JerseyCO]

Hello all, I am a Law Enforcement Officer for a large department, I was injured when attempting to subdue an individual. As common practice our department first sends us to a dr that im guessing has a contract with them. He is located in one of the "multi care" type offices. This particular dr has a reputation of trying to send officers back to work ASAP without any regard for there health or injury. I have dealt with him in the past and felt forced to go back still injured, this time i have smartened up. In this incident i hurt my shoulder and he sent me back to work after a week saying i was fine even though i had limited movement and pain. I asked to see a specialist and he refused telling me i should go back to work. So i went back to work and told my supervisor i was unfit for duty due to my injury, this time i did a little digging and went to the board of medical examiners and found out about his past malpractice lawsuits. My employer will not get rid of him. Upon returning back to him after reporting my existing injury to my supervisor I told him i do not feel confident in his abilities due to his malpractice suits, his reply was "alot of doctors have those", to which i said i do not want "those" dr's treating me , and that i wanted to be referred to a specialist, which i since have been and have been getting the treatment i need, I am going for surgery in 2 weeks.....guess i wasn't "fine" after all....my question is , is there anything i can do to make sure I do not have to see this dr anymore in the future?? Do i have any rights in this situation?

Thank you in advance for your suggestions....sorry if this was hard to follow

[tony]

JerseyCO

my question is , is there anything i can do to make sure I do not have to see this dr anymore in the future??

Sure, you can file for a formal or informal hearing if there is a dispute about the type and extent of medical treatment.
http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wc/...ing_index.html

Here's a few links to check out, with you being in law enforcement, I'm sure you will find what you're looking for.
Contact Information

NJ Department of Labor
Division of Workers' Compensation
P.O. Box 381
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0381
Phone: (609) 292-2515
Fax: (609) 984-2515
Internet: http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wc/wc_index.html
Additional Information

The New Jersey Workers' Compensation Law -- Title 34, Chapter 15, Articles 1 to 10, Inclusive (R.S. 34:15-1 to R.S. 34:15-142) as amended and supplemented with additional legislation is available at:
http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/forms_pdfs/wc/pdf/wc_law.pdf
Rules of the Division Of Workers' Compensation are available in PDF format (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader) online at:
http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/forms_pdfs/wc/pdf/rules.pdf
Current and historical benefit rate tables are available at:
http://lwd.dol.state.nj.us/labor/wc/content/stats.html
-
Tony

[maxcrucial]

you can go to er and complain of pain and they will give some shots recommend a specialist at which point you can talk to him(tell them it workers comp at er).i would recommend a lawyer to check out your right in your state.here in ohioi did this and when i went to the doc er referred me to i changed to him fyi

[bugmann]

Howdy Jersey CO

I follow your situation in good detail. I have worked with a few fellow pals @ NJ State Correctional Facility mainly the Armpit of Correctional Facility's I cant use the name but if you are familiar with corrections you may even know me? In any event you most likely are covered under a Contract or Work agreement and this may provide you more benefits and or avenues to get what you seek which is real medcial care. Heck if you wanted a hack you could have just cut in line on G/2 or your hospital facility.

Before seeking general WC help we need to see what your contract says. I would get a FULL copy from your shop stu and while you have his attention get his advice and tell him your situation. There was a time when NJ PBA had an awesome protection for its officers> I hope this is still the case? If you work for a local municipality you may have less than what a State PBA Officer has but in any event your first stop must be with your work agreement/shop stu or representative of union.

You may have legal help through your work agreement as well so first things first.

I want to start here as you may not like what the general rule may say

Good luck

BUG

[JerseyCO]

thank you for all your answers so far, im defiantly on a mission to get rid of this dr somehow, if not then file some type of complaint that would further prohibit me having to see him in the event im injured in the future, and given my work environment is a very good chance. Bug you have PM

[JerseyCO]

just as an update ive decided to go and file a complaint with the board of medical examiners , complaining of the incompetence and possible misconduct of the dr sending injured officers back to work to please my employer, lets see where this goes, if anything im hoping the next time they try to send me to him I can say its conflict of interest given my submitted complaints

---------- Post added at 04:45 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:44 PM ----------

oh and i have a few other people about to do the same so hopefully they see the multiple similar complaints and look into the situation more seriously

[ToddWachtel]

I'd be happy to talk with you. I am a Certified Workers' Compensation attorney at Levinson Axelrod, and actually, a former Deputy Attorney General that represented the Department of Corrections and the Bureau of Risk Management before I came here. Feel free to call me at *******Todd Wachtel, Esq.

[tony]

Look, I warned you before about forum rules, post that number again and I'll ban you.

Here's a repost from the last time you pulled this stunt.
Todd Wachtel, you can't solicit or post contact info in the open forum.
If you wish to promote yourself, you will have to follow the same rules as the other attorneys.

Here's the rules, read and understand them and start over.
http://www.workerscompensationinsura...orum-Etiquette.

Welcome to the forums
Tony

[bugmann]

Jersey CO

Well you do have the right to file complaint with medical board, however dont expect much to happen with that, the worst that I think can happen is an admin slap on wrist, as long as this Dr is licensed to practice medicine in NJ , an employer can "select" as there initial WC examining Dr. There is no doubt opinions vary when IW are examined, just wait till you get to the rating of impairment exams. When one reads the contrast of extent of impairment they can find it difficult to believe this report is on same injury/patient!!! The reason this Dr has the work injury contract with the State is that he limits liability for the payer or employer. Its that simple. If this Dr sent every IW that requests a specialist, to one, the employer would FIRE him and hire a new WCdr puppet. These Drs make millions a year to appreciate what the employer wants from a WC DR. Also these Drs KNOW how their care effects a WC case!!!


In your line of work there are so many reasons why an IW can be returned to work due to the way the WC law is currently set up. The main reason is the variety of tasks you can be assigned at your job. As you may already know there are some "cushy" details a CO can be assigned to like: library, Front House, or gate opener etc.. this list varies depending on facility. Some of these details are so boring its hard to stay awake for 8 hrs doing it!! I will agree with you that you may not be in perfect health to break up a lunchroom brawl, so I would imagine there is a way to avoid this detail. If the Dr is asked "Can this IW answer a telephone"? He in most cases will say YES. Then the employer says they have a position open where is the IW will answer phones and POOF you are off WC TTD and back to work. Again in YOUR case this really comes down to what your work agreement states when dealing with work injury. PBA did at one time have GREAT WC benefits, certainly above and beyond what the private sector has!!

In any event it appears that you got past the initial WC examining Dr it is now the treating specialist that sends you back to work and don't be surprised to get sent back to work, a few weeks after surgery with limitations, however I believe your work agreement will address that issue.

If it becomes necessary to hire a lawyer, again check with your union as they may have one for you, if not DONT even consider one of those lawyers with a full page ad on the Yellow Pages of phone book, or worst yet a lawyer trolling for clients on a work injury help site as its my experience they are ambulance chasers fixed on where the ambulance is going & got run over by not looking for the garbage truck coming down the road!

Im not sure what it takes to become a"Certified WC Lawyer" besides passing the bar, registering with WC Court, and maybe a multiple choice
"pop" quiz on WC procedures which neither shows ability to win complex cases. I've said this countless times " many lawyers just out of school begin with WC law, as in most cases of simple injury at work it is cut and dry work as WC is 3 fold, in NJ. 1) Medical corrective care, for work injury 2) TTD if no secondary work is available while under med care 3) Comp for your measurable permanent disability (ratings) that's it!!

Good luck with your up coming surgery

BUG

[JerseyCO]

although i agree there are some cushy spots available, we do not have light duty , there simply is no such thing, reason being even in a cushy spot , if a bell goes off you are to secure your area and respond to the area of which the situation is occurring which could be a simple fight 1-1 or 5-5 or a riot situation, so light duty doesn't exist. And most other cushy spots are outside which require you to be armed, and the admin is not going to put an officer with an injured arm in a position where he or she may have to fire his weapon, not because they give a crap about the officer or publics safety but because they dont want to get sued when i miss and hit an innocent civilian or i get shot because i couldn't raise my weapon in time and my family sues everyone lol.FYI my current dr is great, from the start he sat me down and assured me he doesnt work to satisfy WC , and whatever we need to do to get me back to 100% is whats going to happen, he also knows we do not have light duty so on my paperwork he puts return to work light duty lol he did tell me he expects me to get back to work around 5-7 months afterwords depending on my progress, so all in all i have nothing but praise for this guy. Have surgery april 5th so we'll see what happens. I currently have a lawyer that is a good friend of another officer and he blows my past attorney away, always gives me a call to see how im doing, had an issue where the state wasnt paying my bills and the hospital was going to put me into collections, he stopped all that immediately no more letters or calls etc, he is still looking into what can be done with the other dr but isnt sure if theres much i can do besides what ive already done. so we will see what happens...thanks again for your help