Mongolian Clusterfuck

I know I've mentioned before that one of the medical people I know (not involved in any of the work comp stuff) told me that if she were hurt at work, she would lie and say it had happened at home. No way in hell would she attempt to navigate the work comp system.

Of course this was after I was already being kicked around and treated like a criminal by Mr. H. Statesman who runs the opposing side's law firm. (H stands for humanitarian, of course.)

Never mind. Karma's a bitch.
He will eventually be caught up with one way or another.

I'm looking forward to being able to permanently dismiss him from my universe.

If you're new to the story, or just would like a refresher, I got slammed with three work injuries in a fairly short span of time. 

The comp insurer didn't want to take care of the third injury, and I limped around in pain for 10 months on a knee THEY said there was nothing wrong with. I finally went and found a surgeon on my own and had the knee (that had awakened me at least four times a night for 10 months) operated on in December of 2011.

I kept the surgery off my blog completely and didn't bother letting my attorney know (in writing) that I'd had the knee surgery until two days before the hearing on the matter.

My little act of defiance.

And since Oregon allows discovery in work comp cases, my attorney considerately faxed the surgery report to Mr. Statesman. Suddenly Mr. Statesman wanted to settle! This was the second or third time they offered... but the first couple times the first condition was that I resign from my job.

This time they were quite magnanimous, saying they'd take 'quit your job' off the table if I wanted to settle right then.

Yeah.
No.

The hearing was in February 2012, the judge handed down a decision in my favor in July. 

A year and a month ago.

Fast forward to now.

They've still not paid everything they owe, they've never made an effort to close the case, and my attorney is once again taking them to court to try to fix the situation. That's supposed to happen on September 3rd.

I saw Dr. Pain a couple weeks ago to determine whether I am medically stationary, and the gears of the fabulous Shit on the Injured Worker machine began to grind along once again.

Got the mail a week ago Saturday on our way to the grocery store.

Sometimes I don't bother to read the mail I get from legal people over the weekend, reasoning that if it's something that's going to drive me insane trying to decipher or it's just somehow stressful, it's easier to open it on Monday so I have time to contact my attorney for clarification etc.

But I did open this one from the comp insurer.

I just now went and grabbed the letter and read it again.

They've set up a closing examination for the right knee with the doctor who performed the surgery. Sort of a waste of money since I went to Dr. Pain a few weeks ago for the same purpose. He did some range of motion stuff and we considered that the closing exam.

I don't know what the hell they're thinking, spending still more money to send me to another examination that will have results identical to the first exam, really, but although they may have great legal minds they don't seem to be burdened with common sense.

Of course, being the kind and generous humanitarians they are, they scheduled the appointment RIGHT in the middle of the day, messing up my entire schedule for that day.

So I had to ask for the whole fucking day off because the way our schedule works over the summer, there isn't a way for me to be off in the middle of the day without inconveniencing the other people on the staff.

In July LAST year they were ordered to pay me a certain amount and they STILL haven't done that, either. Thank goodness I'm not holding my breath.

In closing, here's today's free advice, which I've given before. But in case you missed it, pay attention. It's important.

If you're ever hurt at work, follow these easy steps.
1. Pick up your severed limb.
2. Walk, drive, be dragged to the nearest attorney who deals with work comp.
3. After signing papers, seek medical attention.