Columbus Junction Workers Compensation Attorneys

Recovering from a work injury in Columbus Junction often means gathering evidence to support your claim, understanding your rights if the insurance company disputes what happened, and getting proper treatment for serious fractures like a calcaneus or tibia break. Here is what Columbus Junction workers need to know.

Can a Calcaneus Fracture Cause Permanent Disability in Columbus Junction?

A calcaneus injury, a fractured heel bone, can be one of the most disabling injuries that an injured worker can receive. Often surgery is required to stabilize the fractures, which includes placing hardware in the form of plates and screws. Statistically, a high percentage of workers with this injury never return back to work. Even if you do return back to work, most workers end up with some permanent restrictions, such as only standing for 30 minutes at a time or sit-down sedentary work only.

What Benefits Can You Receive if You Have a Calcaneus Fracture?

If you or a loved one have sustained a calcaneus fracture, you will be entitled to some permanent disability benefits under Iowa law, but the question will be how much you should receive. This depends upon a number of factors, including whether you fractured both heels, whether you develop back, hip, or other spine problems because of the changes in the way you walk, known as an altered gait, whether you develop depression, anxiety, or other mental health issues because of your foot injury, and whether you have had a prior injury to your hand, arm, foot, or eye, thereby qualifying you for the Iowa second injury fund. That prior injury does not have to be work related, and could have been something you were born with, a prior knee surgery, or carpal tunnel from a previous employer.

How Will the Amount of Benefits Be Determined?

Depending upon the above factors, your calcaneus fracture could be treated as a scheduled member injury claim, meaning your percentage of disability the doctor gives you is multiplied by the total value of a foot in weeks. However, if you meet one of the circumstances described above, your injury may instead be treated as a non-scheduled industrial disability case, in which your impairment rating is only one of many factors, including age, education, restrictions, ability to return to your same job, and wages, in determining the percentage of 500 weeks you receive, or even possibly permanent total disability, which is a weekly check for the rest of your life.

Can You Ask Coworkers to Testify About Your Columbus Junction Accident?

When someone has been injured at work and there is a dispute concerning the accident, coworkers can be asked to testify in a workers' compensation claim. There is a place on the First Report of Injury or Illness form where workers can list a witness to the event that caused injury. Of course, employees who provide statements may worry about retaliation from the employer, so it is important they understand their rights.

Utilizing an Employee Statement in a Workers' Compensation Claim

A coworker may refrain from testifying about a work accident because of the fear of being fired, harassment, demotion, or being subject to some other form of retaliation. But employees cannot get in trouble for sharing what they saw happen, especially where the safety of other workers is an issue.

How an Employee Statement May Help a Workers' Compensation Claim

There can be different reasons for calling upon a coworker to provide a statement. One situation is when the employer or insurance carrier tries to argue the injuries weren't work-related. If others saw what happened, they can support the employee's claims that the injury was sustained while on the job. For instance, a coworker might testify that they saw the individual fall off a ladder, or the coworker may know of a hazard in the workplace that caused the person to become sick.

Another circumstance in which testimony from a coworker could be helpful is when there is a disagreement as to the extent and severity of an injury. For example, the treating physician may release the employee back to work before he or she is ready. The doctor might indicate the individual suffered nothing more than a bump on the head, but coworkers saw the employee lose consciousness, which could indicate a more serious injury. Additionally, coworkers may have access to information or documents that can be helpful in the case, such as photographs taken of the area in which the accident occurred, which could help substantiate what actually caused the accident.

Tibia Fracture Work Injuries Among Columbus Junction Workers

Tibia, or shinbone, fractures are an extremely painful type of break and are actually the most common type of fractured long bone in the body, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. They can take four months or longer to heal and often require the use of crutches or a walker during the healing process.

Tibia Fractures on the Job

There are numerous ways in which Columbus Junction workers can suffer a tibia fracture work injury. They may slip and fall, trip over an object, run into a misplaced piece of equipment, get a leg wedged in a piece of equipment, or get injured in a work-related car accident. The Bureau of Labor Statistics cites the two most common causes of workplace fractures as falls on the same level, accounting for 31 percent of cases, and being struck by an object or equipment, accounting for 21 percent of cases. A tibia fracture work injury will take a worker off the job for some time, since walking is out of the question until the doctor permits it. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, workers take an average of 30 days off for a tibia fracture work injury.

Treatment for Tibia Fractures

Treatment for tibia fractures depends upon how severe the break is and the overall health of the worker. In clean breaks with little bone displacement, the doctor may utilize non-surgical treatments, such as splints, casts, and braces. For more severe fractures with open wounds or a lot of displacement, surgery may be necessary, which can include the use of intramedullary nailing, plates and screws, and external fixation with pins and screws on the outside of the body.

Open fractures, in which the bone fragments are displaced enough to exit the skin, typically sustain greater injury and are at increased risk for infection. This may stall or prevent healing, and these fractures are more likely to require secondary surgical procedures.

Filing for Workers' Compensation

If you suffered a tibia fracture work injury, you are most likely entitled to workers' compensation benefits, which should cover related medical expenses, prescriptions and surgeries, rehabilitation, and a percentage of your pay while you are recovering. In addition to notifying your employer, you will also need to file a claim for benefits. To ensure your claim is handled correctly and that you get the full extent of the benefits you are entitled to, you might want to have a work injury attorney review your case.