Current Newsletters
CATASTROPHIC EVENTS & ARTIFICIAL LIMITS
In certain catastrophic accidents, artificial compensation limits have been placed on the driver, family members and/or passengers in the vehicle which has been struck. These artificial limits are $15,000.00 per driver or passenger for injury or death to one or more persons, with a total limit of $30,000.00 for all individuals in the vehicle. While these limits provide some compensation, they do not protect injured drivers, their...
THE LATEST COVID THREAT: COMORBIDITY
The continuation of COVID has resulted in a greater understanding of the medical phraseology which defines developments which result from the impact of COVID-19 on prior existing medical problems, as well as problems which develop subsequent to the finding of COVID-19. Comorbidity, defined as “the simultaneous presence of two chronic diseases or conditions in a patient” comes into play when COVID impacts either an underlying medical...
COVID/LONG HAULERS/LONG COVID
In two of my previous Law1199.com Newsletters — 2020 Issues 8 and 14 — I discussed the long-term impact of COVID and the fact that conditions associated with the virus may continue even after a change in symptomatology to the point where individuals who have been infected believe they are once again functioning at a higher level. On March 23, 2021, New York State Senator Brad Hoylman proposed legislation (effective only in the state of...
FIVE YEARS TO OBTAIN MORE JUSTICE; NO TIME LIMIT ON MEDICAL CARE
Two factors occurring with job-related injuries are the level of impairment and the need for medical care. The level of impairment is determined by medical opinions and comparing the objective findings (i.e., test results) with the subjective complaints of the patient using a schedule which has been created to produce this measurement. Once the level of impairment has been determined, a worker has five years from the date of...
PROPOSED LEGISLATION WILL HELP TO CORRECT SOME OF THE WRONGS REGARDING ACCESS TO MEDICAL CARE
New legislation — AB 1465 — provides some important corrections to SB 899 and its harm¬ful limitations designed to restrict workers’ access to medical care. AB 1465 expands access to more doctors outside the employer-controlled medical groups, and establishes the California Medical Provider Network (CMPN), allowing access to doctors outside the employer-controlled MPN. It also removes employers’ ability to economically profile their selected...
HAVING A COVID-19 PREVENTION PROGRAM IS NOT AN OPTION; IT IS A NECESSITY: LONG COVID IS HERE
Two doctors from Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland – Dr. Robert Bollinger and Dr. Stuart Ray – have posted their medical opinions regarding a new strain of the coronavirus and its potential impact. They state that viruses do mutate over time, and there currently have been some mutations of COVID-19 which are different from what was first found in China. One new strain of COVID was first discovered in southern England in September...
COVID-19: WILL IT EVER BECOME PERMANENT AND STATIONARY? WILL IT CAUSE HARM TO OTHER BODY SYSTEMS?
In Workers’ Compensation, the point at which a determination is made as to whether an injured worker has sustained any permanent impairment is when the worker’s condition has become permanent and stationary (P&S), meaning he/she has reached maximum medical improvement and his/her condition has stabilized to the point where further treatment is unlikely to change that condition significantly within the next year. A P&S...
UPDATES: 1. COVERAGE FOR CORONAVIRUS ATTACK ON SAFETY PERSONNEL/AND MANY HEALTHCARE WORKERS
UPDATE #1 Assembly members Jim Cooper, Lorena Gonzalez, Rob Bonta and Senator Tom Umberg introduced Assembly Bill 664 which was previously amended in the Assembly on March 13, 2019 and with the most recent amendment in the Senate on April 17, 2020. This Amended Bill provides protection to safety personnel and many certain health care workers who are protecting and serving the populous of the State of California. This coverage...
NEW DWC PROCEDURES – NOT ESTABLISHED BY STATUTE – THREATEN THE CALIFORNIA WORKERS’ COMPENSATION SYSTEM
Law1199.com Newsletter 2015 Issue #1, entitled “The Current Workers’ Compensation System Violates the Bargain Between Employers and Workers and Creates a Burden on Society”, reflected the development of Workers’ Compensation throughout Europe and the United States and encompassed the encumbrance placed upon California workers by the passage of Senate Bill 899 in 2004 which created the Medical Provider Network. The California...
CORONAVIRUS AND OTHER AEROSOL-TRANSMITTED DISEASES POSE MAJOR RISK FOR SAFETY WORKERS AND THEIR FAMILIES
The State of California Department of Industrial Relations, under the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, has previously issued protocols that embrace exposures to the newly-found coronavirus, which has been identified as a major societal problem. CalOSHA acknowledges that this type of virus could pose a danger to California workers and their families, and others through its airborne passage. Prior...
