🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <jzeroCuoCp0.M9M@netcom.com> jzero@netcom.com (Jim Nakamura) writes:
>Another Outraged Worker <OW@fubar.com> writes:
>
>> For all those people living in the Bay Area who happen to have been
>> injured on the job, I'd like to issue the following warnings:
>
>> 1. If the workers comp insurance company that your employer is using
>>    is called "CNA", be highly suspicious of them. They are extremely 
>>    shifty and will use any and all means to ensure that your claim 
>>    will not be taken seriously and they will make any and all attempt 
>>    at skirting around workers comp laws. Furthermore, do not trust
>>    any doctor whom they recommend or to whom they send you. If a doctor
>>    or his nurse claims to have worked with CNA extensively before, then
>>    find another. The local workers compensation industry is, to be blunt,
>>    a racket -- a scam -- and CNA is an established player in this
>>    ongoing debacle.
>
>> 2. If you can avoid dealing with occuptional health doctors named either
>>    Lowengart or Pugh, both working on Telegraph Avenue in Oakland, then
>>    do so. Both of these doctors not only have very little if any competence,
>>    but they offset their lack of ability by an unusual flair for
>>    playing along with the Workers Comp Industry Scam. Yes folks, 
>>    They lie. They cheat. They'd probably even push a button to get a chunk 
>>    of banana, if you paid them to.  And, unfortunately, either of these will 
>>    systematically refuse to believe that you the worker are injured, 
>>    they will lie to you about your condition and how it should be treated,
>>    they will fail to inform you of your options or they will offer options 
>>    which would be destructive to your health and career, and they will do 
>>    whatever they possibly can to end your treatment prematurely.
>
>> Hence I say, PROTECT YOUR RIGHTS; the medical con-artist class will not.
>
>
>	The unfortunate thing about Workers Comp is that you
>	give up your right to civil action.  It's a trade off.
>	In return for govt intervention, you generally lose your 
>	right to sue your employer in court.  Unfortunately, abuse
>	has been a two way street.  Theoretically, an employer's
>	negligence can result in your death, but because you
>	come under the purview of Workers' Comp. your estate 
>	may only get a pre-determined amount for your losses.
>	Last I looked, which was a long while ago, I think
>	death was $100,000 and loss of limb was $50,000 and loss 
>	of a hand was $10,000.  (A long while ago.)  
>-- 
>jzero@netcom.com
>S.F., CA

    What the employer lost was the ability to sue the worker, charging
that she/he was careless and caused damage to the plant or others.
The problem developed that it became cheaper to disable a worker than to
provide for protection.  There have been some horrible examples of
unsafe working conditions here in North Carolina.  The state inspects a
workplace only once every 15 years or so.  A chicken plant fire several
years ago killed and injured scores.  All the exit doors were blocked or
nailed shut.  After an initial outcry, the story disappeared from the
news and that was the end of that.  One bureaucracy agreed to talk to
another if they saw a violation.  That was about it.



-- 
# George Conklin; George@NCCU.EDU  |  Edison did not have a fancy      #
# N. C. Central University         |  internet signature.              #
# Durham, North Carolina USA       |  That means that I cannot either  #
# 919 560-6222 (work)              |  since he didn't tell me how.     #