WHAT TO DO IF YOU ARE INJURED

This week we are looking at some do's and don’ts for you to keep in mind in the event you or one of your family members should receive a serious injury.  This is an important topic and one that particularly interests me since most of my work involves helping injured persons obtain fair compensation for their injuries.  The most common injury producing events for which people make claims for money damages are related to work and travel; other events result from defective products which cause injury.  Examples of defective products that have caused injuries are guns that discharge even when the "safety switch" is on, ladders that collapse, three-wheelers which flip over unexpectedly, and many others.  Sometimes people are injured when they trip, slip or fall due to someone allowing a dangerous condition to exist on their property.  You may be injured by someone intentionally striking you with a fist or a weapon.

Work related injuries result from many things such as lifting heavy objects, falling from a ladder, being struck by a fork lift, being burned by chemicals, etc.  If your employer carries worker's compensation insurance, the claim will be handled through a special process involving an agency of the State of Texas called the Workers Compensation Commission.  If your employer does not carry worker's compensation insurance, then he is responsible for the injuries if he has failed to exercise ordinary care to provide you a safe place to work, proper tools and equipment and a sufficient number of competent fellow-employees to avoid unnecessary injury.

In either event, you should immediately report any accident that occurs at work to your supervisor and fill out or assist in filling out any necessary paperwork.  If you are unsure of what you are filling out, you should ask someone you trust to help you.  If the injury requires medical care, I would recommend that you promptly contact an attorney to find out what you need to do.  You do not necessarily have to hire the attorney to handle the case, but the attorney can give you advice about certain things that must be done within certain time limits.  A common mistake workers make is to assume that their employer is sending in all the necessary papers to the Workers Compensation Commission.  Even though employers often say they will take care of all the paperwork, they almost never send in the most important paper that the injured worker needs to protect his rights.  This is one reason that an early conference with an attorney can be so important.

Whenever a person is injured, whether it is on the job, in a car wreck or in some other way, the injured person should seek medical care if they are in significant pain.  Delay in getting medical care can both reduce the chances of fully recovering from the effects of the injury, and may also make it more difficult later on to convince the insurance company that the person was really hurt by the accident.  If possible, someone should try to get names, addresses and telephone numbers of any witnesses and should try to take photographs of the scene of the accident including vehicles involved, if it is an auto collision, of the product if the injuries result from a defective product or of the dangerous property condition if that is what caused the injury.  When describing the injuries to a doctor or nurse, the injured person  should, to the extent their condition allows, mention each part of the body which was injured in any way.  The reason for this is that frequently people mention only the most painful injury to the doctor but later on another injury that was less painful immediately after the accident turns out to be the most disabling.  If the person has not mentioned the less painful injury to the doctor in the emergency room, it may not appear in his medical records which can make it difficult later on to convince an insurance company that the disability resulted from the accident.

The information contained in this article is not intended as a substitute for legal advice and is meant merely to provide a general understanding of the topic discussed.  If you have a legal problem you should contact an attorney who can give you legal advice after hearing all the facts concerning your problem.  We at the ROLAND BROWN LAW OFFICES would welcome the opportunity to be that attorney.