Attorneys at Markhoff & Mittman Express Concern For Disabled Nurses

Every year, hundreds of nurses become disabled after being injured on the job. Continue reading →

Aug 31, 2016 /prREACH/ -- Every single day in the state of New York, nurses make a difference in the lives of patients, whether it be in a hospital, clinic, or private practice setting. These hard working and compassionate men and women are the backbone of the medical community and the tasks they perform do not solely involve medical care - for many, they also provide the emotional support that both the patient and their loved ones need. However, in many cases, a nurse finds that their career is ended early because of a debilitating injury sustained on the job and the hospital they worked so hard for isn’t making it easy to get help.

The majority of nurses who become disabled on the job sustain either spine or head injuries. Common causes include a slip and fall accident, overexertion where a nurse is forced to lift a patient without assistance, or violence.

Once injured, they should be able to obtain compensation for their medical expenses and lost wages through a workers’ compensation claim or social security disability, however, hospitals frequently dispute these claims, saying that the injury didn’t really take place at work. There are many reasons an employer would fight a claim, one being so that their premiums, which are already very expensive, don’t go up.

One nurse reported that after she filed a claim for a back injury which required multiple surgeries, including one where a steel rod and screws were placed into the spine, that her former employer claimed she had actually hurt her back taking a dish out of the oven, not when an overweight patient collapsed on her.

What makes these all too common situations even worse, is that the majority of these accidents are completely preventable when hospitals ensure that their teams are not understaffed and the implementation of proper lifting programs and tools are put into place.

It’s experiences like this one which lead many injured nurses to seek the help of an experienced workers’ compensation and social security disability attorney. For many, it ends up being the only way that they can obtain the compensation they deserve.