Category: Workers Compensation Resources

By Posted on Posted in Medical Treatment, Workers Compensation Resources Tagged with , , , ,
Jul
13
2009
A new prescription for pain
Let's hear it for workers' compensation reform!

Researchers at the Keele University in England recently discovered that people report less pain when swearing. (Via Slashdot) And…cue the workers’ compensation jokes:

    1. Depositions:
      • Q: Mr. Smith, what else helps alleviate your pain?
      • A: [DELETED]
      • Q: Counsel, maybe we should go off the record for a moment…
    2. Court reporters:
      • “I need to get the spellings for a few words…”
    3. Interpreters:
      • “Uh, could you translate that again?”
    4. Trials:
      • Judge: Madam reporter, would you please read that back…
    5. Appeals:
      • WHEREFORE the above and foregoing, Defendants respectfully pray that this Board grant reconsideration and find Applicant refused reasonable prescribed medical treatment and should therefore be denied temporary disability benefits.
    6. Legal research:
      • “$ This search is outside your research plan.”
    7. Medical treatment:
      • “Actually, a telephone conference with my doctor should be sufficient.”
      • “Where do I look this up under the ACOEM guidelines?”
      • “Just how the crap am I supposed to write the damn utilization review appeal for this one???”
      • “I’m sorry, doctor, I must have read this prescription wrong…”
      • “Why is this doctor prescribing a speech therapist for a back injury?”
      • “By the way, your nurse case manager is Andrew Dice Clay.”
    8. “Although my level of disability was lowered after SB 899, I sure find that talking about it helps.”
    9. “In other news, researchers in Nevada have found that gambling, hookers, and dry weather also reduce pain.”

      I’m not really a workers’ compensation attorney, I’m really just a failed comic.

      (Photo courtesy of Mike Licht)

      By Posted on Posted in 2005 PDRS, Almaraz / Guzman, AMA Guides, Articles, Case Law, DFEC Rebuttal, Ogilvie, Vocational Rehabilitation, Workers Compensation Resources Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
      Jun
      27
      2009
      Always room for guest articles at PDRater!
      Always room for guest articles at PDRater!

      Emily Tincher has recently provided a vocational expert’s perspective on the Ogilvie and Almaraz/Guzman decisions.

      Have you got an article on workers’ compensation you’d like to see published?  Drop me a line and let me know.1

      Thanks Emily!

      P.S. For those of who keeping score at home, this is my 200th post!!!  That’s 200 posts in 357 days or roughly a post every 1.7 days.

      1. Photo courtesy of Stephen Cummings [↩]

      By Posted on Posted in 2005 PDRS, Calculators, Ogilvie, Permanent Partial Disability, Technobabble, User Interface, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , ,
      Jun
      24
      2009
      PDRater workers compensation calculators - so easy a cat can use them!
      PDRater workers' compensation calculators - so easy your cat can use them!

      What’s that?  You haven’t memorized ALL of the FEC ranks to go with each of the 2005 Permanent Disability Rating Schedule body parts? 1

      Why didn’t you say so?   (Actually, someone did ask for an easy way to look up the FEC ranks back on April 1).

      I’ve been working on an easy way to allow a user to look up and quickly insert the FEC rank for the affected body part.  I finally got around to building it a few days ago and launched it this morning.  Please give it a shot and let me know what you think.

      Here’s all you need to do to perform your very own Ogilvie calculation:

      1. Go to the permanent disability calculator page. (If you haven’t already signed up for free, this is a good time.)
      2. Click “Ogilvie” Diminished Future Earning Capacity Calculator “
      3. Type in the FEC rank OR click “FEC Rank (1-8)” and click on the injured body part.  It will look up the FEC rank and insert it for you.
      4. Type in the “Whole Person Impairment”
      5. Type in the “Post Injury Earnings of Applicant”
      6. Type in the “Post Injury Earnings of Similarly Situated Employees” OR click the link to obtain some information from the EDD Labor Market Information Division (LMID) and US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS).

      If you can think of a way for me to make this calculator even easier, please let me know. 2

      1. You’ve only had four years, right? [↩]
      2. Photo courtesy of Vicki’s Pics [↩]

      By Posted on Posted in Business, Free, Open Source, OpenOffice, PDRater, Technobabble, Workers Compensation Resources Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
      Jun
      23
      2009
      How to stretch your law offices budget
      How to stretch your law office's budget

      Cost: $0.00

      Savings: $150/computer

      Here’s an easy way to save your law practice several hundred dollars in the next few months.  The next time you have to purchase a new computer do not buy a copy of MicroSoft Office, MicroSoft Word, or WordPerfect.  Even basic versions of these programs can run several hundred dollars per computer.1  You don’t have to purchase these programs!

      Try OpenOffice instead!  I have been using OpenOffice on my home and work computers for the last three years and have been extremely happy with it.  I have given copies of this program to family, friends, and colleagues who are also all very happy with it.  I’ve used it for simple correspondence, legal pleadings, spreadsheets, and presentations.

      Here are a few “real world” benefits:

      OpenOffice is totally 100% free open source software

      Free as in free.  Give it to your friends.  Install it at home and on your kids’ computers.  Don’t worry about software piracy.  Its totally, completely, free.

      OpenOffice has better document recovery

      Its important to know that OpenOffice is much more stable than anything MicroSoft or WordPerfect has to offer.  It is extremely rare that OpenOffice crashes on me.  If you’re using MicroSoft Word and you haven’t saved your document at least once, a single crash will completely erase all of your progress.  The very few times that OpenOffice has crashed on me I have gotten all of my data back – even when I haven’t saved the file once.

      OpenOffice has everything you need

      OpenOffice has all the features of MicroSoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and WordPerfect.  You can also use the OpenOffice suite of software to open, edit, and save to MicroSoft Word and WordPerfect formats.  It won’t automatically open the MicroSoft Office 2007 formats yet, but you can find plugins and software to do this for you (also for free).  OpenOffice has spell check, grammar check, autocorrect, macros, and templates (even legal pleading templates!).

      OpenOffice can do more than its competitors

      OpenOffice can save as, open, and even edit a PDF.  Editing a PDF requires a plugin, but it is very easy to install (and also free!).  Just being able to print to a PDF is going to make your documents easier to share with others and, hopefully, one day easier to share with EAMS too.23

      If you’re not convinced to make the leap with your next computer purchase, then download OpenOffice now and give it a shot on your current computer.  Here’s their website link:

      Download OpenOffice.org – free word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software

      1. Photo courtesy of Krug6 [↩]
      2. Not that EAMS will share with you. [↩]
      3. Don’t take it personally – EAMS pretty much hates everyone. [↩]

      By Posted on Posted in Case Law, PDRater, Vocational Rehabilitation, Website Updates, Workers Compensation Resources Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
      Jun
      12
      2009
      WCAB: Throwing babies out with the bathwater since 1965
      The WCAB: Throwing babies out with the bathwater since 1965

      For context, its best to see the prior post about the WCAB’s Weiner v. Ralph’s (en banc) decision.  There’s even a link to the Weiner v. Ralphs (en banc) decision for download – just so you can play along at home.

      The question in the title of the post is really a question about the WCAB’s rationale – not their end legal justification behind Weiner.  I believe the Weiner case hints that the WCAB is going to go the other way and uphold their rulings in Almaraz/Guzman and Ogilvie.

      However, I think the WCAB’s rationale for ending vocational rehabilitation was because of the potential for enormous retroactive vocational rehabilitation maintenance allowance awards at the temporary total disability rate outside the cap (VRTD).12

      1. Photo courtesy of Stephane Raymond [↩]
      2. You see, I’m suggesting that the bathwater is VRTD and the baby itself is vocational rehabilitation.  Kinda kills the metaphor, eh? [↩]