Whether you are able to request additional medical services on your Oregon Workers’ Compensation claim depends upon the nature of the settlement itself.
The Oregon Workers’ Compensation statutes and rules allow two kinds of settlement. The first is called a “disputed claims settlement.” Read this article to learn about these settlements, but basically, this is a settlement of the denied and disputed claim. If you entered into this kind of agreement, then the denial remains in effect, and medical services are not available to you. However, in some cases, this agreement may not apply to other medical conditions resulting from your on-the-job injury. To be sure, you may want an attorney to review the agreement to see if you can make a claim for medical problems that resulted from the injury, but were not part of your claim.
The other kind of workers’ compensation settlement and Oregon is a “disputed claims settlement.” This article provides details. In this kind of an agreement, you are “selling” your rights to all the benefits of your accepted on-the-job injury claim except for the right to request medical services. The statute does not allow you to “sell” this benefit as part of a claims disposition agreement.
Even though you may have a claims disposition agreement that preserves your right to seek medical benefits, the insurance company may still deny proposed medical treatment for several reasons. For example, the insurance company may find that the proposed treatment is not medically necessary. An insurance company may also decide that the proposed treatment is not related to the original on-the-job injury. If treatment is denied, you have the right to appeal that decision to the State of Oregon.
If you are not sure whether or not it makes sense to request additional medical care, or to appeal a denied request for treatment, call us at 503-325-8600. We can review your file, and let you know your options. Under the Oregon workers' compensation system, we are not paid an attorney fee unless we are able to achieve a result in your favor.
