Bucks County CRPS/RSD Lawyer

Workers injured in accidents while on the job should be entitled to coverage for their injuries.  However, some injuries are quite strange and unusual, even to trained medical professionals.  CRPS is one of these strange conditions, and linking it to your work injuries can be difficult, throwing a wrench into your potential ability to smoothly get Workers’ Compensation.

Our attorneys fight to connect all resulting conditions and disorders to the work injuries that caused them, allowing our clients to get the full benefits they are entitled to from Workers’ Comp.  This includes complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS).

For help with your case, contact our Philadelphia workers compensation lawyers today for a free case review by calling Cardamone Law at (267) 651-7945.

Getting Workers’ Compensation for CRPS/RSD for Injured Workers in Bucks County

Whether you know it as complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), or some other name, the condition is the same: an overreactive pain response and sensitivity in one particular area.  In many cases, this only occurs after your initial work injury, which should qualify your condition for Workers’ Compensation benefits.

Workers’ Compensation is designed to pay injured workers for their injuries by compensating them for all medical care and covering a portion of their lost wages while they are out of work.  This most commonly applies to concrete injuries like a broken bone or a back injury on the job.  However, many other health conditions that develop because of exposure at work should be covered as well.  At the same time, so should conditions that stem from the initial injury.

For example, if you slip a disc in your back and need surgery, but even after the procedure, you end up unable to lift and carry things anymore, your ongoing back pain and inability to work will all be considered part of that initial work injury.  Similarly, if you receive a head injury and now face difficulty communicating or working at your old job, you would also see all of that resulting harm covered.  CRPS should be treated the same way if it results from an injury at work.

In most cases of CRPS, there is an initial injury to your arm, leg, or another part of your body.  Once the injury begins to heal, it should get better, but with CRPS, there are often ongoing pain symptoms that are not in proportion to the initial injury.  These symptoms are nonetheless part of that initial injury, and our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists can help you get benefits for your injuries on that basis.

Proving CRPS was Work-Related in Bucks County

Many ongoing symptoms and disabilities are obviously linked to the primary injury that caused them, but the same cannot be said for CRPS.  One of the reasons that many people struggle to get Workers’ Comp with CRPS/RSD is that the injury is honestly quite mysterious and hard to prove and link to an initial cause with medical certainty.

If you break a bone and it continues to hurt to some extent afterward, this is understandable.  However, when you claim that it feels like your arm is on fire or your doctor notices a change in the appearance of the skin and hair on your arm, it might not seem like that is related to the initial injury.  In many cases, something like this is actually CRPS and should be treated as part of the initial work injury.

In some cases, there is no other potential cause of the injury or condition, and we can rule out enough complications to show the Workers’ Comp carrier that the worker’s CRPS did indeed stem from the initial injury to the affected area.  In other cases, there might be even stronger evidence in the form of identifiable nerve damage.  This nerve damage for “type 2” CRPS is usually linked to the injury more clearly, potentially making it easier to claim Workers’ Comp benefits for type 2 CRPS than “type 1,” which has no discernable nerve damage.

What Medical Treatment is Covered by Workers’ Comp for CRPS in Bucks County, PA?

When you go to the doctor with CRPS from a work injury, Workers’ Compensation is supposed to cover all treatment needed to deal with the condition.  It might take convincing from your lawyers to prove the testing needed to confirm your condition is a necessary part of treatment, but that should be covered.  Then, once we have sufficient evidence that you do have CRPS and it is linked to your work injury, we should be able to get coverage for all ongoing medical care, even if it means going to specialists.

Before your doctors – or your employer’s Workers’ Comp carrier’s doctors – believe that your condition is more than psychosomatic, they might need to see test results confirming the presence of CRPS.  There are tests that can be performed, including ultrasounds and MRIs, as well as tests to analyze your nerves.

Once the condition is diagnosed, you can seek treatment for your CRPS, and Workers’ Comp should cover it.  Usually in the first 90 days of treating after an injury, you have to use doctors your employer’s Workers’ Comp carrier selects.  However, CRPS usually requires specialists, and you can often choose your own care provider if your employer’s list does not have the required specialists.  However, a lot of your care will come from physical therapists and other professionals who might be listed, though you can usually change to a provider of your choice after 90 days.

Medication and therapy are two of the main treatments for CRPS.  In many cases, it will be about pain management and getting by with your condition rather than “curing” it.  As such, you may be out of work for some time, allowing you to claim wage-loss benefits for your lost wages as well as coverage for these medical care costs.  In addition, psychological care, lifestyle changes, and alternative medicine treatments like acupuncture might also help – and they should be covered in many cases as well.

Call Our CRPS/RSD Lawyers in Bucks County for Help Today

If you were injured at work and think you might have CRPS, call Cardamone Law’s Bucks County workers compensation lawyers for help today at (267) 651-7945.