OK I am sorry this is so long so please bear with me.
I injured my back in 2004. I had a disectomy for a ruptured disc and was sent back to work 8 weeks later full duty with no restrictions. One month after returning to work I started hurting again, but not as bad as before. W/C doc ordered a mri and said nothing was wrong so I tuffed it out three more months till one day I could not get out of bed. One month later The doc said I needed a lumbar fusion. After I had the fusion surgery I went back to work 12 weeks later with restrictions of no frequent bending and no lifting over 30 pounds. I also had a fce but at the time nobody told me what it was really for. I have been having lots of pain again and now have a new doctor that said I have arachnoid scarring and fusion is crooked :mad:
A few weeks ago I got a new W/C adjuster and now have a case manager. The case manager came to my workplace and had results of my fce and it has a lot of restrictions that I was never told.It says no bending at all and no lifting over ten pounds. This fce report was giving to me and my boss EIGHT months after I took it. It was dated last november. Most of the job I have been doing is what the fce says that I am not supposed to be doing, and now my back is much worse. My doc that I had refused to take me off work.
OK now my questions. Is someone negligent for not giving me or my employer the fce report while they knew I was working and not telling me my restrictions until eight months after I returned to work?
Should I have had any restrictions after my first back surgery?
Is my doctor negligent for not telling me that my disc had reruptured? I had a mri after I started hurting again after first surgery. My doc said mri looked good.When I changed doctors I picked up my mri from first doc to take to new doc.I looked at the reports and it said my disc reruptured and my doc never told me. I still have original reports amd MRIs.
The W/C insurance has always paid me on time and approved all my doc's request and my employer has been great. My main gripe is with the origional doctor. My new doc is great. He says that now I need a spinal cord stimulator implanted in me :eek:
I know I am a dummy for blindly following everything I was told by my doc. I am 42 years old and this is the only job I have ever had. I started doing this when I was 16 and I have never had any medical problems.

I can't comment on whether the treatment was apporpriate or not as I am not a doctor and haven't seen your reports. It may have been reasonable, it may not have. Hindsight is 20/20. This would really be more malpractice than WC.

Not knowing who requested the FCE, I'm not sure who should have been given the results. It isn't clear if your employer new one wa done or not until recently. You were entitled to a copy but you had ot request one. If you didn't, they wouldn't just send it necessarily. Did you not request the results when it happened? It seems unusual to wait 8 months until they come to you.

If everything is being approved and you are beign paid on time, and your employer is being understanding and working with you then it seems you are fortunate.