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Workers’ compensation: Court awards $120,000 for denied claim

Workers in Ohio who are struggling to obtain workers’ comp after suffering workplace injuries may be interested in a case in another state. A court recently awarded an oil-field worker $120,000 after a seven-year fight for workers’ compensation benefits that were initially denied after he suffered a brain injury. Reportedly, the man fell while working on an oil rig, and the head injuries he suffered were life-changing.

According to the report, the 62-year-old was a veteran who had decades of experience when he stepped onto oily mud while working a midnight shift in 2011. His daughter says, with benefits denied, it took nine months for her to arrange life-saving brain surgery for her father. However, due to the delay, he had suffered irreversible brain damage by the time a shunt was implanted. By then his condition had rendered him unable to return to work.

The daughter says she happened to visit him at the oil rig in Alaska months after the fall that caused the injury. She was shocked to see her once fit and active father struggling to walk and talk. She took him to her home state where medical specialists determined that cerebral spinal fluid had built up in his brain. This was removed during emergency surgery.

Victims of on-the-job injuries in Ohio may avoid such hardship by consulting with an experienced workers’ compensation attorney from the onset. A lawyer can assist with navigating the complicated legal and administrative proceedings of the claims process. Furthermore, he or she can proceed with an appeal if the workers’ compensation benefits claim is denied initially.

Source: Houston Chronicle, “Injured worker wins compensation from Houston drilling firm“, Lise Olsen, Feb. 16, 2018