L&I Workers’ Compensation For Finger Injuries In Washington
If you damaged a finger in an accident on the job, you could get workers’ compensation benefits to pay your medical bills and lost wages.
Fingers are the most often injured body parts in workplace accidents, said the Washington Department of Labor & Industries (L&I), which runs the state’s workers’ comp program.
In a single recent year, workers in Washington made 15,650 finger injury claims, L&I said.
Finger injuries are scary when they happen. And they leave you with medical costs and lost work time.
Workers’ comp benefits help you put this traumatic incident behind you.
The workers’ comp attorneys at Bothwell Hamill & Sutton, PLLC can make sure you’re getting all the benefits you qualify for.
We help hardworking people in Yakima, Kennewick, Sunnyside, Spokane, Richland, Ellensburg, Wenatchee, Walla Walla and across central Washington.
Permanent Partial Disability And Finger Injury Workers’ Comp
A common type of workers’ compensation benefit for a finger injury is permanent partial disability (PPD) payment.
Often, you’ll be able to return to work after a finger injury. However, a permanent injury, like the loss or partial loss of a finger, could impact the amount and type of work you can do.
With PPD benefits, once you’ve healed from the initial trauma of the injury as much as possible, a doctor gives their opinion of a percentage of long-term impairment caused by the injury.
As your ongoing workers’ comp lost wages benefits come to an end, L&I uses that rating and its own scale to set a final award amount to pay you.
An experienced workers’ compensation lawyer can help make sure you get an impairment rating — and therefore compensation level — that’s fair.
L&I or another workers’ comp insurance administrator could request that you get an independent medical examination (IME) from a doctor of their choice to determine your PPD rating.
But it’s important that the attending physician who’s been helping you recover all along also has a say in this.
Get a Bothwell Hamill & Sutton, PLLC L&I attorney to look at your options, for free.
How A Workers’ Comp Lawyer Helps After A Finger Injury
Here are some of the ways a workers’ comp lawyer helps you get everything you’re owed after you’re hurt at work.
Your lawyer can:
- Confirm that you’re getting the medical care you need under workers’ comp rules
- Gather your medical evidence from your treatment
- Communicate with L&I or the workers’ comp insurer
- Make sure you get all the right forms submitted
- Make sure you don’t miss any deadlines or important steps
- Negotiate a settlement for you if needed
- Represent you at an L&I hearing
- Check to be sure you’re getting the right payments
Workers’ comp has its own legal system with its own rules, courts and judges.
Lawyers like the ones at Bothwell Hamill & Sutton, PLLC know how to navigate this system for you, which is why you want a law firm with extensive workers’ comp experience.
A finger injury at work should never go uncompensated. Get help securing your benefits by calling 509-606-6917.
