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Fair Treatment for Injured Workers?

Recent reporting by NPR and ProPublica has brought national attention to how workers’ compensation systems treat injured workers.  These reports have put many insurance companies on the defensive.

In recent years, we have become familiar with the ideas of corporations that are “too big to fail”.  Corporations are not people.

Insurance companies have done a great job convincing people “greedy lawyers” are the problem.  They talk about people hitting the lawsuit lottery.  Our firm has been representing people with serious injuries for over 60 years.  I cannot think of a person I’ve represented who would not have given back every dollar they received if only things could just be put back to the way things were before they got hurt.

However, insurance companies don’t want to talk about all the people whose lives are permanently changed by injuries.  The only thing those people wants is their life back the way it was before.  While our legal system tries to provide that, medical care can sometimes only get you so far.   Many people end up with permanent impairments.  Our legal system is an attempt to adequately compensate them for their injuries.

Unfortunately, our workers’ compensation legal system falls short in many ways.  Many injured workers have their medical treatment delayed or denied.  They receive limited benefits.  Because of changes in the law pushed by insurance companies, those limited benefits are reduced further or cut off completely.

So, when an article finally comes out that talks about the inadequacies of the workers’ compensation system, the insurance industry gets defensive.  They blame attorneys and even doctors.  They talk about Texas as the best workers’ compensation system in the country.  They talk about all the good things they voluntarily do for injured workers.

Take a survey of injured workers in Texas and see what they have to say about Texas’ workers’ compensation system.  Talk to people injured or the families of those killed in the fertilizer plant explosion in Texas.  I believe you will find many injured workers who are suffering because of the changes made to Texas’ laws.

It completely misses the point of the ProPublica/NPR articles and the recent OSHA report on workers’ compensation to talk about all the “good” people in the insurance industry and all those “bad” lawyers and doctors.  No one is denying that there are some bad lawyers and bad doctors just like there are bad people in any occupation.  However, to say that insurance companies want to take care of injured workers out of the goodness of their hearts is misleading at best.  Insurance companies are set up as for profit businesses.  They are big businesses whose goal is to make money.  They are not set up to do things “out of the goodness of their hearts”.

Our legal system should ensure that everyone can enforce your rights against these big for profit businesses.  Our legal system should ensure that everyone can get a fair day in court, even when they are up against a big business with a lot more money.  However, the best court system in the world does not mean anything if there are no rights to enforce.  In other words, if we allow insurance companies change laws and take away the rights of injured workers, we virtually assure that all workers have less protection.

Hopefully, you never suffer any injury that brings you into the legal system in order to recover.  No one wants to get injured.  However, it is important to know that there are laws that protect you if you do.  Those laws were enacted to ensure that you are treated fairly after an injury.

What if I have other questions about workers compensation?

Georgia’s workers compensation system can be very confusing.  You have to worry about getting the treatment you need and paying your bills while also worrying about not missing any deadlines that could cause you to lose your right to receive workers compensation benefits.

If you have questions, I would recommend that you try to get answers.  To find out more about how to schedule a time to talk to me about your workers compensation questions, just read this short article.

Jason Perkins is an attorney who specializes in representing injured workers.  He regularly publishes videos and write blog articles about Georgia’s workers compensation system and issues that are important to injured workers and their families.

To be notified of Jason’s new workers compensation videos, subscribe to his Georgia Workers Compensation Video Series channel on YouTube by clicking the subscribe button below.

Brittney-lee orourkeBrittney-lee orourke
05:23 18 Feb 22
Amazing! Jason and his team were very helpful and had the best communication by far. Walked me though every step with great detail and had answers for any question I had. They handled my case better then I could imagine, it was a weird case and they stayed on top of it and kept me updated every step of the way! Highly recommend this Team! Thanks so much to Jason and his Awesome team!-Brittney
China JonesChina Jones
18:58 08 Feb 22
I absolutely love this group of attorneys, when I was at my lowest they did everything they could to help me get justice for my injury. I believe if I were to have never picked my phone up and called the amazing group that helped me I definitely would not have received my idea of rights. If you have an issue and are just not sure please understand that they will help you, stay in contact, answer any question you have, and for sure get you the justice you deserve I thank them from the bottom of my heart and I will definitely refer them to anyone who has been hurt because they most definitely care about their work and clients.
Luv LocsLuv Locs
16:08 15 Jan 22
The entire law office was attentive and responsive to all of my concerns dealing with my workers compensation case.
moombimoombi
21:14 02 Jan 22
If you must get a lawyer involved, you’d do well to work with Jason Perkins and his team at Perkins Studdard Law.They were thorough in gathering information and in sharing all the steps in the workers comp process specific to my case. Jason and the team were responsive to my bevy of questions and concerns.I appreciated the informative videos and consultations provided by Jason over video meetings and multiple phone calls.I hope I’m never injured on the job again. However, if I am and if my employer responds as my previous employer did, I’ll contact Perkins Studdard Law immediately to handle the case.
Dana BessDana Bess
23:57 10 Dec 21
Everyone at Perkins Studdard was kind and professional. They were always extremely responsive and answered all questions that I had and followed up to make sure I had an understanding of what was going on along with emailing videos to explain every step of my case so I would know what to expect and be prepared. Jason is a very genuine person and I trusted him with my case. He answered so many questions for me even before I retained him as my WC lawyer. I highly recommend him and his associates at Perkins Studdard.
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Jason Perkins

Workers' Compensation Attorney

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