I was injuered 12 years ago and until recently the doctors could not figure out why I was not getting better. At the time of the injury I worked two jobs doing 40 hrs a week in each. One of the jobs I was three years away from my ten - year which was important to me. The injury stopped me from working both jobs and the doctor advised me not to return to them because they would injure me further. I have had few jobs since then and all after reinjuring the back doctors advised to seek employment elsewhere. Since the injury and reinjuries I have been unable to catch up on past bills. There has been a significant amount of ware and tare on my vehicle, and the mental anguish of many doctors giving up on find what was truely wrong has been great. My recent doctor has found the problem which is the back injury with the hiderence of Lyme's disease. The lyme's disease is estamated to have been contracted about the same time as the injury judging by the progression. Over the 12 yrs if the injury had not occurred I would have an income of about $311,000 not including my Ten - year. Special funds wants to settle with $35,000 but I feel it is not enough. I now have to be retrained for a job that I won't have to do heavy lifting. My question is, am I wrong for wanting more and what should I do to get more?

So if I understand yo ucorrectly, the cause of your problems isn't the work injury, it is Lyme's diesease. If that wasn't part of your claim, and it is way past the statute of limitations to add it now, you can not be compensated for the problems it caused. WC only pays for the degree of disability as a result of the accident. It isn't going to take into account the wear and tear on your vehicle, nor that you may have stayed another 3 years at your old job. It looks only at the degree of disability and plugs that into a formula, set by law, that take into account your average weekly wage at the time of the accident at the job where you were injured. If this is a full and final settlement, then there is usualliy some premium paid to close out the claim forever. It won't be anything close to what you are asking, but it would be a bit more than the straight formula for a disability award.

You really should have legal representation in you are considering a settlement. This is a legally binding document with significant implications for the future. It is not a DIY project.

I do have legal rep. but he seems to be advocating for the other side rather than wanting to fight for me. He almost seems to be afraid to even talk to them.

The statue of limitation is not up because for the last five years I have been out of work with the on going back injury. Doctors for the last 12 yrs. have been pacifying the problem rather than looking for the core. It is far from being over. The initial injury is acute muscle spasms in the upper back with two bulging discs in the neck. If the doctors had not pacified the injury at the initial injury, when I aquired the Lyme's disease two to three yrs. later it would have not been a factor. Inessance the loss of potential income is relovent along with my ten- year. Maybe not the ware and tare as you point out. Since the intial injury I have been unable to maintain the lifestyle I was accustomed to, furthermore them have not paid doctor's bills which have since been damaging my credit dating back about 8 yrs. Out of the 300,000 potential income they have compensated 95,000 for loss wages and want to settle for 35,000. I have to retrain to even think about returning to a job and that settle ment would take up 2/3 of it.

OK, I misunderstood your first post. It sounded like you wre trying to add the Lyme's disease claim into your back claim. That you could not do at this point. Unfortunately, malpractice isn't a tort under WC, it is a completely separate issue. If you were improperly diagnosed and treated, then you would need to go the malpractice route which is outside the WC system. The good news there is that the caps on awards and recovery of damages is much higher. The bad news is that it is a separate case entirely, and the standard is fairly high. I'm not sure what the statute of limitations is on such a claim and if you fall within it, but that is something a lawyer who specializes in that area can tell you.

Unfortunately, WC is fairly limited in scope. It only covers certain aspects of a claim and "pain and suffering" isn't one of them. It would only cover your initial injury, not complications that result from a later acquired illness. Where there isn't a way to separate treatment, the medical aspect is covered under WC. When it comes to settlement, aportionment does come into play. In other words, since there was no way to not treat your initial injury without having to address the Lyme's disease (even if it wasn't diagnosed) your medical treatment on your back continued. However, when it comes to settling your claim, the insurer isn't responsible for the portion of your claim that wouldn't have been a factor but for the Lyme's. They are only responsible for what they would have been responsible for had you not later contracted Lyme's. Again, if the reason the two wound up being interwined was because of malpractice, then you would need to pursue that as a separate matter.

Thank you for writing and I will keep what you have written in mind. I will also look into the malpractice but the problem with that is they didn't know much about it until recently so malpratice might be a mute point. Thanks again and have a nice day.