Paramedic Injured in a Car Accident
A little history I worked as a paramedic. Back in Sept of 2013 I was a passenger in an ambulance headed to a 911 call with lights and siren. It was a very foggy rainy night and we came upon some road construction. The construction company had laid a 6" pipe across the road and put dirt over it forming a make shift ramp. We came around the corner saw the flagger who just waved us on, we could not see the ramp due to the rain and they had a massive flood light system which was aimed right at us. We were going about 40 mph. At the last second I noticed the ramp and turned to tell the driver. To late we launched the ambulance Dukes of Hazzard style. We came down very hard on the passenger side and kept headed to the 911 call. We were cancelled and turned around and headed back. As we were headed back a cars headlights shined on the windshield and I noticed the the bottom of the windshield looked cracked. We found a place to pull over and when I went to try to get out of the ambulance the door wouldn't open. We finally got it open to find that the windshield was cracked and that we hit so hard we bent the fender well into the door. About this time I started feeling some light left back pain and hip pain. We called in stating we were in an accident and I was told to head over to get checked out. To make the story short i was diagnosed with hip and back strain, had x-rays and MRI and 3 months of PT prescribed by work place health and then was released back to work even thou I was still having pain. In Dec 2014 I was responding to a call when I slipped on black ice and felt instant sharp left hip pain bringing me to tears. I was sent in and again diagnosed with a hip strain.Went to workplace health and sent to PT. While there I met a really nice physical therapist and he stated he felt I ripped my labrum in my hip. I went to the workplace Nurse Prac and talked to here about it and she said I was crazy and I need counselling to deal with my pain and sent me back to work. Abot 2 weeks later went to my primary care physician and she did not like the way I was limping was sent to a orth surgeon and found to have a laberal tear. I had Scope surgery this past May. Unfortunately the surgery didn't work the surgeon stated the labrum was so badly torn to to the wait in first injury to surgery time and that he tried to fix it the best he could. So looks like Hip replacement for me. Meet with new surgeon this coming Friday the 3rd. I am dealing with Memic so fair they have treated me well. My workplace let me go after about 15 weeks of FML. I know I will never be able to be a paramedic again do to the lifting. I asked to meet with a Voch rehab specialist we met abot 5 times and I told him I want to return to school to finish an IT degree about $17,000 and 2 years. He thinks it is a great Idea and passed it onto Memic about 2 weeks ago. When should I call Memic and ask them about it? Should I get a Lawyer? Is hip replacement considered permanent disability?
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