RSD and Settlement

[angel1954]

Hi
I have had rsd for 2 years. My attorney wants to settle.Is it too soon.He doesnt seem to be wanting to do much of anything to help me,just wants me to settle.I am not getting better. He said we could have open medical.
Thanks for any advice
Angel

[Rob123]

Hello, is it a comp. case or personal injury case? is your lawyer talking about a large settlement for you, so you could live the rest of your life without worrying about bills, and other things. where is your RSD? in your foot or your Arm.

Rob

[angel1954]

Hi
It is a comp case.I have rsd in my left wrist but it has Im sure spread up my arm,to my shoulder and also I can tell the upper part of my body is being affected now although the dr. says it dont spread. I dont think he plans to get me much money.I was considered 40 per cent disabled in my left arm. Its going to be hard to find another job making good money.Im really very miserable,the pain is really bad.I was on medication.Ive ran out of medicine so Im really in pain now. The dr. I dont like driving to this dr.I tried to get to a closer one and workers comp approved it but the dr. refused to treat me,he told me to go back to the dr in missouri. Can you believe that. Talk about a mean dr. He was really mean. I am so tired of hurting all the time. Sometimes I think I need a new attorney.Angel. I just reread this.Ive made several mistakes and my wrist and arm are killing me. I see part of this dont make much sense .I will explain when Im not hurting so much.

[GalenaFaolan]

I was a WC case myself and how they total up a settlement for you is by looking at their doctors reports of the % of disability you have and then they look at the total amount of money they've spent on you for doctors and tests.

They don't care about the rest of your life, they don't give you money for pain and suffering or for lost wages. They think about their own bottom line and how fast they can get rid of you if possible.

If your attorney isn't doing anything to help your case then you should definitely get another one. You need one who will appeal things and get as much money as possible for you. If you can get open medical then do it! Just be prepared to end up fighting down the road when they don't wanna pay for stuff. I don't have any experience with that myself but have heard from others that have open medical say it was ok at first then WC decided they didn't want to pay for stuff and they have to fight for it. They're such buttheads!

In Florida we don't have open medical so I took the best amount of $$ I could get at the time and got done with them!! I was sick of their idiot docs and having them mess with me and my treatments. I'm sorry you're dealing with such jerks for docs there. Is there no other docs that you can transfer to? *Hugs* Doesn't spread my hiney! He obviously needs to come talk to us and we'll set him straight! :D

Karen

[angel1954]

Hi Karen
So how long did it take before you decided to settle. My attorney i thought would at least call the place easier to drive to and see why they wont treat me. all he said was he heard the dr i wanted to see wasnt seeing too many people anymore which i know is a lie. i have a friend who sees him.if i settle my lawyer will get paid for doing nothing.i had to go to all the trouble to get the referral myself.my lawyer wouldnt do one single thing to help me.all he has talked about the past 6 months is he wants me to settle.i am miserable .i want a dr easy to get to and all he worries about is settling.he is my second attorney.why should i settle now till i get what i am wanting,that is a closer dr. he will not let me talk to workers comp.i dont lie or anything.and i am not finding nothing out through this lawyer.i am absolutely miserable and i know my rsd is spreading.i dont know why this lawyer is in such a hurry to settle.maybe workers comp is paying him off to get me to settle.thanks for the reply.angel

[Diamon Lil]

Lawyers are just like everyone else - they go to work in order to have an income. Maybe your attorner has some bills to pay and would like to settle now so he could have his share of your settlement. Not all attorneys have the best interest of their clients on their minds. Could you get another attorney who would represent you better? Would you still have to pay your do-nothing attorney if you fire him? You need to find an attorney and a doctor who put their clients welfare first.

Good Luck !! Regards, Lil

[GalenaFaolan]

*Hugs* Angel

I settled in Oct 2004, well that's when I got my check, did the final paperwork and got going between hurricanes in sept that year. LOL So it was a year and 7 months from accident at work till settlement for me. My lawyer did a great deal for me and I'm soooo lucky to have found him on my first try! It really helped that he already knew all about RSD too. My RSD spread to full body in 11 months so it couldn't get much worse me and by that time I was sick and tired of the crap they kept trying to pull.

The reason I got the lawyer to begin with was because they were going to deny me physical therapy!!! Can you believe that?? I was on crutches and couldn't walk at all and they wouldn't let me go to pt....so lawyer time! :D They weren't happy about it but I was even less happy. After all the docs I had seen through WC and all the ways they screwed me and went back on their dx and stuff.....I had enough. At the time of our settlement conference they were about to yank me from the Neuro and make me go to another doc that would deny I even had rsd and wouldn't treat me in anyway for it, no pain meds at all. I had talked to my lawyer a lot and he started at 80,000 months before. By the meeting we had come down after arguing back and forth about what they'd give up for me based on all the things I said in the last post. They wouldn't hear full body, denied it and said it was only in left leg, though all evidence to the contrary. I finally settled out at 40,000 and took home 30,000. They weren't willing to give up anymore.

I just wanted to be away from them. I saw the Neuro I was seeing on wc but that's only last a few months. He treated me worse not being on wc. Go figure! Took me months to find the doc I see now but it was worth the wait!! He's wonderful and he cares.

To me it does sound as if your lawyer doesn't care at all and just wants out really. It's not fair to you he's pushing you to settle out and wont' do any work for you. What is wrong with these people anyway?! You'd think he'd want to push the case hard. People like him shouldn't even be in the business. With a lawyer you surely can't talk to WC and it has nothing to do with whether you lie or not, it's just good sense. They will twist you all around and try to hurt you. A lawyer is supposed to know the things they'll do and basically run interference for you with them and get you the best care possible while getting you the best settlement possible.

Don't settle until you get what you want. It has to be worth it to you. If it takes getting a third lawyer then do it. It's a pain in the keister but he's working for you and going to take some of your settlement for his fee so he ought to be earning it!!! It's stressful I know but you have to think of you first of course.

*Big Hugs*

Karen