In April, 2006 I was involved in an on the job related accident. While cleaning up hydraulic fluid I slipped and twisted my knee and it made a loud popping noise . Like something might have broke. I was asked if I wanted to fill out a accident report and first hesitated to do so. About an hour later the pain started getting worse, so I asked the supervisor for an accident report. I was working 3rd shift and the accident happened about two hours before the shift ended. When my shift was over I was sent to the local medical clinic for evaluation. The doctor said I had pulled a muscle and let me return to work with restrictions (light duty) until my twisted knee got better. I reported bake to work and turned in all my paper work from the doctor. I told the HR lady about the restrictions and she said that my supervisor would work something out for me to do. Never was I put on any different job and my knee always hurt while I was working and would swell late in the day and I would pack ice around my knee at night to get the swelling down. My department works 12 hour shifts. While walking on concrete floors all day and climbing up and down stairs and all over machinery my limp got worse because the pain got worse. I went back to see the doctor about two weeks later and explained to him that I had not been placed on light duty and my knee was not getting any better. His reply was that the company was to follow the rule and it was the company that had to place me on light duty. So for another month I limped around the plant, while performing my regular job and never any light duty work. Two months went by and the doctors at the medical clinic I was seeing suggested that I see a specialist about my knee. So I went and explained to the specialist what had happened and that I had never been given any light duty work and this was causing me to have problems with my only good leg because I had started to place all my weight on my good leg and now my good knee was starting to hurt. He asked if I had been placed on light duty and I explained to him that I had papers stating that I should be place on light duty but never had I. So this doctor wrote more restrictions and stated that if the company could not follow these restrictions, I should be placed out of work to see if my knee would heal on its on are if not, then I might need a MRI and maybe a operation. So by now it's around the middle of June and I took the paper work back to the HR department and they sent me back out to my department. I explained to my supervisor about my restrictions and she and HR were to over them. Still I was never placed on any light duty work. I explained to my supervisor several times that my knee was not getting any better and that I did not want to have an operation if I could avoid it. Also I had explained to her that my good leg was starting to hurt because I was placing all my weight on it and not my bad knee. She heard what I was saying but she still did not place me on any light duty job.
To get a second opinion, I took it upon myself to go and see my family doctor and had him look at my leg. My family doctor thought that I needed to stay off my leg and maybe take a anti inflammatory drug that would help reduce the swelling. He stated that unless I was placed on some sort of light duty work it would never get better.
After about two more weeks of working under pretty sever pain I chose to go to the specialist again and tell him again that I had not been placed on light duty and that my knee was getting worse. Also I called the worker comp clams representatives and explained to her that my leg was not getting any better and never had I been placed on light duty work. She said that she would talk with her supervisor and get back with me. Never did I get a call back from her. When I reported back to work Saturday July, 15 the HR department was closed. I had a copy of my job restrictions with me like I always did after seeing a doctor. So with the HR department closed I carried the papers to my supervisor. She said that she had no work for someone on light duty. She knew I had been on light duty for months but I went ahead again and explained to her that I had been on light duty for several months. About ten minutes later, this same person that said she had no light duty work asked me to replace a tool inside a machine which was my standard job. Pretty hard work which requires everything the doctors said I should not be doing. Standing for more that 15 minutes at a time, crawling up and down ladders etc. The rest of the day I preformed my regular job, no light duty. The next day I had to call in sick because my knee was swelled so bad I could not work. I reported to the HR department the next Monday and was finally placed my out of work because my supervisor said that she had no job for anyone that was on light duty. I had missed five days total because my knee hurt to bad that I could not report to work. Each time I would miss days work, I would call in and state that I could not work because of my knee. My supervisor was short of help and needed everyone working the job they were hired to do, but this overlooking of a persons work restrictions has now placed me out of work and I may end up having to have a operation that could have been prevented if only I was given light duty work, or simply sent out for a period of time so my knee could heal.

It's now July, 26 and I have been off my knee for around a week and a half and it has stopped swelling up and does not seem to hurt as bad when I put pressure on it.

My question to anyone that reads this story? is this type of overlooking someone doctors written restrictions legal? Hopefully their is something that can be done so in the future no one has to go thru what I have been thru and am still going thru now.

Thanks to any one that reads this and thanks for all that can help.

Kenny

duplicate post