I was injured at work on July 2. Today is April 3 and I have still not had the injury medically repaired. It took 4 months of calling three times a week to get an MRI to discover that the injury was a moderately large supraspinatus tear in my right shoulder. Then it took two more months to have the claims adjuster decide that I probably wasn't all that injured and they would order an IME (Independent Medical Evaluation) using one of their doctors (the first surgeon was one of theirs, by the way). I was accompanied to the doctor's office for the IME by an independent nurse who was to insure that I was who I said I was and to act as a go-between for me and the insurance company. The IME reported that not only did I indeed have a large supraspinatus tear in my right shoulder, but now, due to lack of medical attention, my shoulder was frozen and this is a much more difficult situation to correct surgically. He told me straight, that about 30% of frozen shoulder surgeries are successful, and that I would still have to have the supraspinatus repair after the frozen shoulder surgery-TWO SURGERIES! That IME was on February 4 and still no surgery. I have hired a lawyer. What I don't understand is why don't they just take care of this in a timely fashion so that I am not in pain for 10 months and I don't have to put my nursing career on hold because I can't attend classes in a sling? Why do I have to hire a lawyer to negotiate medical services for an injury that my employer does not dispute and has never disputed? What happens if I don't get the MMI I need for nursing when all the surgeries and physical therapy is complete?
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