Case Study: Neck Injury

Back and neck injuries are some of the most common workplace injuries and can also be some of the most serious.a

Cervical fusion case

A cervical fusion is a surgical technique in which one or more of the vertebrae of the neck are fused together so that motion no longer occurs between them. A surgeon may recommend a fusion to treat a broken vertebrae, eliminate pain from motion, treat instability, or treat a herniation.

Recovery and return to a normal active lifestyle after a fusion is generally longer than for other types of spinal surgery. The length of time a worker may be off work following a fusion will depend on the individual healing process and the workers job.

Sometimes the entire disc must be removed and the adjoining vertebrae fused together surgically. The discs in the spine allow for movement of the spine and allow people to bend and rotate their necks and backs.

We represented an injured worker who hired us following a cervical fusion procedure.

From our office’s experience, workers compensation carriers will use physicians who assign very low permanent partial impairment (PPI) ratings. The surgeon assigned an 8% PPI to the whole person. When the client hired us, we sent him for a second opinion, and the physician actually assigned him a 26 % whole body PPI for the same injury. The physician we hired also indicated that the client would need long term medications and pain management.

The worker was offered $11,200 before he retained us. With our help, he settled the case for $50,000.

If you have suffered from a back injury on the job, contact our Indiana attorneys at 317-569-9644 so that we can help you get proper compensation.