Mr Noyes,
Your comments are greatly appreciated! As one who works within this "system" on behalf of those of us who have been injured, you have certainly seen how this destroys not only the self esteem of the individual worker, but how families are torn apart and many of the injured wind up alone, homeless and without the medical care that they so deserve. But it certainly protects those who put their employees in harm's way, causing many of the injuries to begin with. Sure would like to see some statistic here on how many injuries were caused through employee carelessness and others by work conditions. I know what caused mine!
I would truly like to know what the suicide rate among injured employees is in the state of Florida, but I have not been able to find any stats on that subject. Is this a well hidden secret or is this information available in a place where I have not yet looked? If you or anyone else can help me to find this, I would greatly appreciate it.
Just a glance at the forums which have been setup for work comp victims online show the wide range of suffering that so many are being put through just because they suffered a legitimate injury at work. Not to mention the indignities!
When you become "one of those work comp people", you are stripped of your previous life, no matter how much you contributed to your community, church and childrens' clubs. You become - in the words of the work comp attorneys - a malingerer, a user, a taker, etc. No matter how far from the truth these adjectives may be, you must sit and take them, because reaching across a table and snatching the hair off some work comp attorney's or adjustor's head would be considered an assault of some kind.
I worked hard for 25+ years. Call me a malingerer? You need a vacation where the sun don't shine!
You mentioned the need for the injured employees to get together in Tallahassee. The work comp adjustors would have a field day with that one! They would hit the attending employees with all kinds of trumped up charges in order to again withold medications, wage loss checks and other benefits. Heaven forbid if an injured employee should tell anyone outside of the "system - how it really is! Isn't that also one of the reasons why an employee who settles must sign a gag order?
It is very clear that the legislature has passed laws making it even more difficult for an injured employee to get representation - someone who understands the laws to help them get medical treatment and appropriate income. Remember the canaries who were put into cages and sent down into the coal mines? When they quit singing, it meant they were dead from gases in the mine shafts. Well, the work comp system in Florida doesn't seem to have much more respect for the injured employees than was given to those little canaries. Here, injured employee, climb into this cage and when we have sent you down into enough mine shafts, we might let you see some sunlight - or maybe not.
Do the people who make these laws and the the insurance adjustors who condemn sick employees to go without medications ever think about the results of their actions? Somehow, I don't think so - and I bet they do not know how beautiful the song of the Canary can be on a sunny day.
