At best, an occupational injury serious enough to warrant a workers’ compensation claim is inconvenient – at worst, it results in death or permanent disability.
Workers may face various injuries that can lead to long-term impairments and affect their ability to work and earn a living. Knowing how they might impact your life can help you reflect the impact of a permanent disability in your workers’ compensation claim.
Examples of disabling work injuries
While most catastrophic work injuries occur in occupations like construction and logging, they can happen with any job. Even what seems like a minor incident could have life-altering consequences like these:
- Spinal cord injuries and possible paralysis: Falls, heavy lifting, machinery accidents
- Traumatic brain injuries with cognitive and other impairment: Falls, work-related vehicle accidents, being struck by objects
- Severe burns with scarring and function loss: Chemical spills, fires, explosions
- Amputations and limb loss: Machinery or equipment accidents, work-related vehicle crashes
These and other disabling injuries can lead to devastating long-term financial consequences, emotional anguish and even relationship strain.
Potential permanent disability benefits
In California, workers with permanent disabilities from workplace injuries are entitled to a range of benefits, including:
- Permanent disability payments
- Full injury-related medical care
- Vocational rehabilitation
- Supplemental job displacement benefits
- Lifetime payments for severe disabilities
Ensuring your claim accurately reflects your injuries can help you obtain critical financial benefits and other support.
It takes considerable financial resources to cope with a work injury resulting in permanent disability. The place to begin preserving your benefits is in your workers’ compensation claim. Someone with experience can help you file an accurate and error-free claim and represent your interests upon a claim denial or insufficient benefits.