Here is another WC story and how they can treat you...
I was helping one of our so called "lineman" set a pole one morning at work. I had just started with this crew so I assumed he knew what he was doing. WRONG! He starts jerking the boom while I'm on the butt of the pole with my rubber gloves on trying to keep the pole top out of hot phases above my head. He got so bad he threw me into the truck with the pole top almost smashing my hand between the pole and truck.
At this point I'm in survival mode and get the butt out from under the truck and as I do I slip in a ditch and the pole top comes with me, pinning my left ankle under the pole. I start feeling the pain of a 2,500lbs. 50 foot pole and scream to him to "boom left" to get the pole off my ankle. Instead of booming left he lays the boom straight down and at this point the pole is STANDING straight up on the inside part of my left ankle. If I didnt wear my 16" high climbing boots everyday the doctors said I wouldnt have had my foot today.
So after the grunt runs over to grab the pole butt I hobble up the ditch and sit in the road in front of the truck and pick myself up with the winch and big metal bumpers we use. From there I do everything by the book. Call the foreman, report it, he immediately calls our Area Manager and he tells my foreman to write me up for not wearing steel toes (at the time they were NOT mandatory) and he asked every member on the crew did they have on steel toes and they said no. So I was wrote up so they could try to get out of paying my comp claim even though I had no idea what workers comp was at the time. We go to the E.R. where my forearm just drops me out at the sliding doors (mind you I still couldnt put weight on my left foot) and I try to hop with 10lbs. of boots on. Luckily a woman sees me and runs out with a wheelchair.
The initial diagnosis was strained tendons/ligaments in my ankle/foot and they splint me for the weekend. If I wasnt better by the next Monday (this was our last day of work as we worked 4/10's) I was told to go to the orthopedic doctor. Monday comes and I go. Still in major pain and he puts me on light duty and puts a walking cast on up to my knee. Well in linework there is no "light duty" and they tell me to stay home. Monday my boss calls and asks how come I didnt come to work and I told him why. He tries to raise his voice to me and back then I was a 23 year old hot/hardheaded man and I rip him a new one over the phone. I knew he hated cussing so I cussed him out. He said since I was at my friends house that I could come to work. Like most normal human beings I drove my Dodge Quad Cab 4x4 automatic with just my right foot so I didnt have to use my left foot. He tells me then that I "looked ok" when I left after the E.R. the day of my injury. I then cuss some more and tell him I left in a splint and crutches you idiot. I continue to cuss more and then hang up on him.
Well that same week a woman comes to my parents house (I worked on the road so I never bought a home as it would be useless) and I answer the door with my cast on. The woman then tries to interrogate me and asked me repeatedly if I was working somewhere else. I finally had to tell her off and to talk to my lawyer as I wasnt putting up with this crap anymore. She then asks about me working elsewhere before I shut the door in her face. She was there for an insurance company I cant really say as in my final settlement I was told I couldnt bad mouth them but they are a large insurance company.
During this time I walked a good bit to see my little nephew play teeball, etc. but never overdone it. I was on permanent light duty until noted otherwise so I'm at home making 70% (or close) of my check a week from the insurance company. Even though we were working in Alabama, the branch my powerline contractor was out of was Douglasville Georgia so I had to go by Georgia rules on WC. 70% check and the lawyer could get 25% of my check instead of 10% less on both if it was under Alabama law. To say the insurance company gave me a run around they did for over 2 years. They would wait until the last minute to pay my bills (to the point where they would almost file it on my credit), and even one day turning down my meds and trying to make me pay $300 for them. My lawyer was out of Atlanta and I thought I had a good one until he starts telling me he knew the insurance companies lawyers (they were out of Atlanta too) and he told me I'd get fixed up and make about $7,500 off of it. So I start asking around and people are telling me he's screwing me. After some more calls and he doesnt help me in crunch time I dump him and pick up a lawyer in very very South Georgia. He was your typical shyster lawyer and was even in trouble and temp disbarred for mismanaging funds which I asked him about and he told me the truth about it. I tell him whats going on and he goes after the insurance company like a pitbull because he wants some money.
So now I'm happy that I have a lawyer I trust and I finally found a doctor I liked (dont let them tell you that you can only see one doc as I seen about 6) and the only thing I hated was the walking cast. I did go out and would play golf and even though I'm a Southpaw I played golf right handed so I could put all my weight on my back foot and could swing a club as the cast stopped me from twisting my foot. After awhile though I could tell my ligaments would strain easily as it would have my left foot throbbing and I would quit playing then. That was the only hobby I could still do being that limited. Pool I couldnt play as it messed with my stance.
Halfway through that 2nd year they determined I damaged all the nerves in my ankle/foot and it was NOT fixable. So we decide to set up mediation to settle the suit and get it over with. We settle in mediation in Columbus Georgia for $54k and my lawyer got like $12k or so as I dont feel like doing the math. But it still shows you that someone on workers comp can STILL do things. I could only work on light duty and we didnt have light duty. You cant be on a linecrew with no boots on. So I was told to go home. The same could apply to this guy that won money in that tourney.
Sadly enough now I'm on permanent disability and my Neurosurgeon thinks my disease will NOT progress from where it is now. My spine swells everyday and I'm in intense pain 24/7/365. I still play pool, but can only play for so long before the back pain is too bad I cant go further. There are members on this board that I played on an APA league team with that can tell you by looking at me if I was hurting bad or not. One member on this board hosted me every Wednesday and he could tell you the same, and he could tell when I had my bad days or good days. Most shots on the table if there are no balls on the table I'll lay down on it to try and keep the pressure off my back. Its the only hobby I have left. I cant play golf anymore, can throw the baseball with the nephew every now and then (very short), cant swing a bat or run or pick up anything over 5lbs. or I risk paralyzing myself. But I'm lucky to shoot twice a month if I'm that lucky. It takes an OxycontinIR just to get me out of bed just to function. Muscle relaxers out the ying yang as well. I know there are others worse than me that play and I dont say "well he's cheating the system" because I dont know what he goes through like he doesnt with me. So I wouldnt be so quick to judge the guy until I found out what he has wrong with him.
