Wanting sex 1,440 times a day may turn heads with workcover judges, case managers and – government officials…
“I am a writer/poet, artist, sculptor, musician, wood artist, wordsmith, businesswoman, mother, ex-wife, retired postal worker, driver, fragrance designer, student, photographer, jokester, painter, and furniture designer. …acts like she is 32, her love meter reads “inferno,” and she thinks about sex 1440 times a day” writes a woman on a social site (see Social Security Disability Blog)
It’s good for the disabled to have a positive self-image and sex life but some people who adjudicate workcover or Social Security might think this woman is faking.
You need to be positive and promote yourself on dating sites like LavaLife but the downside is your enemies may think you are not injured or disabled.
Posting about your fun activities as a disabled or injured person struggling to get by in life may be a pastime that costs you benefits. Some judges, claims adjudicators, case managers and workcover insurance companies have been using Facebook and other social media to find out if you are cheating on your claim.
As the Jonathan Ginsberg, a disability lawyer, says in his article
So, if you use Facebook or mySpace or any of the hundreds of other social media sites, I strongly recommend that you spend a little time learning about the privacy features, and that you restrict access to your profile to people who you know well. You should also keep in mind that anything you post or do on-line may reappear, so be very careful about your on-line activities.
Make your Facebook profile private and protect yourself. Make it private from everyone but your real friends and that does not include you ex-spouse, or past friends who might be jealous and try to turn you in.
Don’t laugh. I get emails weekly from nut balls who think I am pretending to be injured/disabled. There is a significant part of the population who display latent hostility and anger towards the injured or disabled in general.
I call also report that I get two or three emails a year from unhappy ex-wives or ex-friends who would like nothing better than to mess up a former friend’s claim. A couple of years ago, I represented a claimant who was approved, but then had his approval withdrawn when a former friend sent links to his web site to Social Security, which then triggered an investigation.
Facebook and social media are one of the few regular social outlets for someone too weak to use more than two fingers. Not many people will put a sad sack face on the Internet. Who wants to read that kind of profile? People will put their best foot forward, talking about their hobbies and other fun activities.
One time I put on a social site I like horse riding and scuba diving along with my picture in a wheelchair and my arm in a cast. I have a twisted sense of humor so what? 
Being injured or disabled is not fraudulent but it may affect your workcover benefits!
This article is not intended to help fraud artists who are only a tiny fraction of the millions Australians with injuries or disabilities needing assistance. However, there is a negative thought process in the establishment working to deny Social Security or workcover and other benefits to the injured and the disabled. We are branded shirkers or malingers which is another form of hatred displayed towards the injured/disabled.
I don’t know anyone who would chose to be injured/ disabled. It’s not fun. We’d all rather be working and making a decent living not scrounging to live at the poverty line.
If you are injured or disabled you know what activity you’d like to do but can’t. Some days we want to rage against life but that’s a waste of time. Some of my friends says I’m lucky to be able to “advocate” for the injured and the disabled and prick a pin in politicians and the pompous. Now that’s a sense of humor
[View original article here: Can Your Facebook Profile Hurt Your Social Security Disability Case ]
Guess, which ever way you turn it, THEY will use it against you. Imagine if you whinged on Facebook or any other social site that you didn’t get any sex because of your disability, the PI’s and defense lawyers will just interpret that as you having “sex” with your hand, hey! Even if you can’t because you have a severe hand/arm injury and are unable to have that relationship. :0
What is clear though is that they will snoop around every where to find something, anything that they can possibly use against you. Best advice is not to post anything that may be used against you by any other person, not even a picture that shows you smiling… and for those who are facing a damages claim to shut down all on-line activity until it’s over.
I have constantly posted and complained about my life on facebook about the state of the state insurance industry. And it’s achieved nothing except people rejecting me.
So the real payoffs in this game, are “you post, you lose” (if you post happy, lose in court) and “you post, you lose” (post sad, lose your friends) …. but also “you don’t post, you lose” (you lose contact with people) ….
If snapshots of a victims life are to present as evidence, perhaps we the victims should force the court to watch our entire lives. Record every second. Waking, sleeping. And compare and contrast it against an uninjured life. There is simply no comparison. The courts, by entertaining the clearly frivilous lawsuits the insurance agencies force victims to engage in, are complicit in this scam. Politics, by refusing to clarify legilsation to prevent “misunderstanding the law” being used as excuse for said frivilous lawsuits — and legislating such that denials of payments should not be done unless paying it would meet a burden of proof for fraud. ie, I’m suggesting that every single cent that victims ever claim for should be paid, and paid promptly. Including damages. And if there’s a cause for fraud, then the agency should bring that case, and the victims lawyer then has a realistic chance for arguing for legally correct and just outcomes, rather than being forced to “play politics” and make deals to try and assist victims in getting outcomes sooner so they can get on with their lives. (in my method, the victims are already ‘still living’ even while the multi-year litigation occurs). There is simply no excuse NOT to use this strategy — assuming that every case the insurance agencies deny or delay IS fraudulant, then every one of those will be paid back. There should be zero financial difference, assuming there is no fraud being commited on victims. But since we know there is — it’ll make the schemes cost more — but only “more” by “rip of the victims” standards. Not more by “full legal entitlement” – which is what the insurance agencies defacto-claim is happening, when they claim they’re managing the schemes responsibly and have a responsiblity to the public to prosecute for fraud. Really — they don’t. The schemes are in profit massively. The public pay – in good faith — to look after victims. Not a single cent of that is justifiable as profit, it’s a state-enforced monopoly, and it’s acting like a private corporation out to maximise profits.
It’s abusive, illegal, immoral, unethical. And the fact there is so much resistance to changing the incentives (which if everything was honest and above board, would make zero difference to the bottom line — not a single cent extra would the scheme cost). The fact they refuse so doggedly to change these incentives, makes the politicians who refuse to change the incentives complicit in this fraud.
We need to not only hunt these people down, and remove them from office, but prosecute them for crimes against the people of victoria. Fraud. Advantage by deception. I’m sure there’s a thousand other things that we could charge them with. But either way, they need to be removed from office *and* the incentives changed such that such a travesty of human rights never occurs again.
Ben.
The deck is so impossibly stacked against victims — and the general public still believe “the insurance is doing it’s job” largely because of the slick brand advertising.
This is politics at it’s most agressive being played violently against people with disabilties, for the sake of profit and power.
We the people of victoria must stand up against such discrimination and abuses, not just against women, blacks, jews, hispanics, christians, muslims or any other “legitimised” minority group, but also those not specifically named in the ‘discrimination act’
It’s simply put, an abuse of human rights as we’re led to believe we have in this country.
So, I say, either the politicians need to pony up, and tell the truth about what the social contract actually is, or there needs to be legitimate follow-through on social promises made — not “avoid paying” if you can get away with it.
The message that is being sent is that no person with a common law claim for damages is ever going to receive a fair suck of the sav unless there are huge fines imposed for any legal case that is eventually ruled against them, the victim paid additionally for the loss-of-life inccured being dragged through the court system, and ideally the remaining money to be specifically spent on an independant corruption investigation, publication and prosecution department with as open access to anything not considered a national secret.
No more “commercial in confidence” deals to cover up illegal deals and shonky politics, no matter how ‘common knowledge’ it is that politicians are the biggest thieves.
The people of Victoria are coming, crooked people. You mightn’t know what’s “right” or have redefined your reality such that “anything you can get away with is okay, and justified” — but we will not stand for it. We will hold you accountable. And we will replace you with a government of the people, for the people. Your reign of tyrrany is coming to an end.
Ben.
I think that constant negativity is off-putting, Ben. People generally don’t like to read or be engaged in bad stuff only, as it is depressing and stressful for them. Perhaps try to find a balance between the negative and the positive to keep your readers/friends engaged….?
There is no balance in my life, and it’s directly caused by sufference at the hands of an abusive system.
The people around me deserve to suffer it too, if they are not actively fighting politically for change. It is the apathy of the people — that people only want to engage in “positive stuff” because the other stuff is depressing and stressful — that enables the system to abuse me.
So, by “pretending to be happy” around people more, I’d be contributing to my own future sufferance at the hands of the abusive system.
If I “constant negativity” around people more, then I wind up contributing to my own future sufference at the hands of people.
There is no win scenario. People are not inspried to action with “a little negativity” …. they’re not inspired to action with “a lot of negativity” … they only action they’re ever inspired to is “leave this asshole” when the negativity inspires them to action. It never results in politicial action against an abusive system that keeps me trapped, suffering.
I’ve tried to be positive about change — tell people that we can change it, and give them very easy things they can do, such as “signing a document that says this is an important issue, and I will change my vote over it” such that I could agressively lobby for change, with something that politicians care about as collateral (votes). But I get massive push-back on that — people treat their votes as “theirs” and refuse to engage in discussions or debates about the right thing to do, public policy, party policy. They turn up and instead “vote for who they always vote for” or toss a coin. And it’s very carefully encouraged this way as a means of concentrating political power away from the people, and with the people that are supposed to represent the people. We don’t have democracy in this country, because they’re actively not representing us, and actively propegandarising us to shift our beliefs.
Only logical conclusion is, people simply do not care, in which case, i truely am alone and pretending to be nice to hold onto a few for a minute longer is ultimately futile.
Ben.
How do you plan on making that much needed change? Maybe you could share your plan with us and open it to comments/debate and see where it leads and whether it’s good enough to gather the much needed support you (we) are after?
I think it’s important to share a plan of attack and reach consensus first and not force someone to agree with your plan, no matter how good you think it is….
If I think your action plan has any chance, I am most willing to back it up!
It’s not a 3 minute cliff-notes. It’s not so much my “plan” but an analysis of the incentives that create the system. The resulting actions can be varied, but it seems that there’s a few that would result in better outcomes.
Eg, demanding that statuatory insurances, be run as non-profits, not be taxed, and have a primary purpose of fulfilling their stated goals, not “primary purpose of profit” like is currently incentivised (and stated in their financial reports!) …. i think enabling them to even make investmenet decisions leads to too many incentives to abuse, so the state insurances should be underwritten by the state, but only as a running-average for unpredictability (the full cost should ultimately be borne from the premiums paid — and the premium should change in response to the costs of delivering the full legislated benefits promptly, with minimal or no litigation — and if litigation does get involved, it should be evaluated by parliament to see if they can clarify the law rather than leave it to lawyers to argue about “what the legislators might have meant” …. in either case, this should be a behind the scenes process, not one the victim him/herself is dragged through.
For most people, even turning up for jury duty is a major inconvenience. Imagine a 13.5 year long sentence of legal fight, all the while your life is funded by disability pension -at best-
There’s heaps of other incentives that need changing — which is why I try and leave it non-specific. Everyone is likely abused by the system somehow. Councils putting up parking signs that are so complicated you need a degree to understand them — profit motive. On the flipside, you have people abusing the intent of the “time limited parking” by shifting their car from one 2p location to the next 4 times a day so they can drive to work (the idea of the time limits is to enable access to the shared resource — by simply moving the car, you are not freeing up the resource for someone else to share. The council can’t do much but ramp up enforcement of people shifting cars – and people hate that. People need to understand there are tradeoffs, and what the right thing to do is, and act for that end. Not act for ‘I can get away with this, so I will” ….
There are so many things that need fixing. Picking one would be so limiting. The insurance abuses in a way are totally small fries (though it’s a huge amount of money that’s very convenient politically) -.
The main takehome, is that we the people need to be willing to threaten polticians with our votes, as a way of incentivising them to do the ‘right thing’ under threat of removal from power. That isn’t happening right now. “we the people” are marginalised politically through big dollar lobby groups and political payola. Yet, it is ultimately our votes that make the difference that politicians care about. Right now, politicians are bending over for the media — because they recognise the people who vote are stupid enough to get suckered into whatevers on the TV, and that’s election make-or-break.
We simply need enough people willing to change their vote, that we get the power to threaten politically whenever something unjust is occuring. To cause the system to evolve back towards a government of the people, for the people. Not of big corporations, for big corproations. We the people are but ants in a machine at present, we’re being told who to vote for, and we buy it hook line and sinker off the idiot box, and newspapers which are so politically one dimensional as to be laughable. We have no independant media in australia, let alone a duopoly of competing. Oligopoly at best. But given the board members of one paper are employees of the other, I’d go so far as to say they’re “working around” media ownership laws by getting away with lying about who’s really managing it.
And it suberts our political process, because people don’t understand how they’re being manipulated.
Now, either they can wake up to the politics, understand all the evil in the world, and all the pain and stress that entails. Or they can simply “join and be a part of this” … threaten with their vote, with a group of people who are much much less incentivised to being corruptable. A board of intelligent, educated people. With strong ethical and moral codes. Sociologists, lawyers, doctors, scientists… anyone eductated, or with a passion to be involved and understand and properly debate the tradeoffs and incentives on the table. And then push for social change *for* the people, not against them for the profit of a few.
It’s not without problems. But it’s as far as I can tell how representative democracy is supposed to work in the first place. It’s not what we have — very clearly — yet somehow it’s up to me to “prove my plan” before anyone gets involved or passionate about change?
It’s madness, I’ve tried. The more I try and explain to people, the more time and effort I put in, the more distanced they get. People aren’t interested, while they have a short term incentive to “pretend it away” and get on with their own lives. Change isn’t easy, but it’s the right thing to do.
And sadly, I have a grand total of about 3 people willing to threaten poltiicians with their vote in this way. Everyone else is defending their right to turn up to polling day and vote for whoever they want in the populatirty contest of political madness.
I don’t want to live in this society any more.
Ben.
10 Steps to Defeat the Corporatocracy
Its not care or interest in other people that is lacking, its that you dont actually do anything to help yourself. You dont practise anything you preach. You just talk, talk, talk about how bad your life is and fail to enact any change that will see your life better.
I dont blame people for abandoning it. Its a soul-sucking life drain. To expect an infinite amount of time to be negative while refusing to help yourself is not realistic.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.
I have been reading and following your many comments over the past 3 weeks or so, Ben, and I must say that I am under the impression that you are playing the victim here.
People who haven’t suffered this, want to be able to make off-the-cuff suggestions about how to make my life better. Yet, they refuse to engage in a discussion on the tradeoffs that would cause in my life. I’m supposed to take their suggestions at face value, and “just do them” or somehow It’s me playing the victim and I’m not doing anything to help myself.
Game theory 101, I’m being painted into the victim corner, there are no non-victim actions I can take which do not destroy my legal claim. Yet I get the blame for the system requiring me to?
Yet all along, there’s not been a single day I haven’t busted myself to work, try and keep my life going. Yet that effort isn’t good enough. I’m still the director of a company, still putting my best efforts in to make that work. The burden I cause compared to an able bodied person is an unreasonable burden on my business partner, and thus far he has been quite accomodating in suffering this loss compared to the originally intended direction of the company.
So seriously, what the hell do you want me to do/say to prove I’m suffering badly? The harder I try, the more people tell me I’m playing the victim, get back to work. So try less hard and complain about it, and people tell you you’re not helping yourself. Seems the only way I can satisfy people I deserve help, is to try hard enough as to not to need help. Pain is a fucking cruel and unusual punishment, at least if you’re missing a leg like the poor woman who recently crashed up north, people can see you’re missing a leg. All people see is me in varying degrees of coping with it. Sometimes better than others. People like to look optimistically at the times I somehow get a better sleep, and cope better, and then blame me for the consequences of not sleeping properly.
I suggest that unless you can come up with a deterministic method for evaluating pain, that you should believe people at face value when they tell you about their pain. There’s no incentive to lie about it. I lose either way in the current system. Lump sum payment or not, it’s barely any better than the disability pension anyway. Lying about it doesn’t result in any better outcomes, so why would I?
People like jumping to the conclusion that workcover/tac people are frauds, and play the victim. We don’t get a choice — and there’s no positive payoff from playing the victim. We’re held to an abusive standard and there’s tripwires at every step of the way to strip our rightful assistance under the law.
I have received a grand total of 1 months loss of earnings payment in 4.5 years. My father and ex girlfriend got about $4/hr on their time for the amount the TAC has paid vs the administrative cost. And that’s assuming I pay for all the medical expenses. (deny, delay, ignore, partially pay).
I’ve gone through my savings (recently), I’ve been being overpaid on my exertions at my company, and I’ve been receiving some help from my parents.
Nobody would choose to be a victim, there is simply no incentive. The people trapped here, who have no choice, simply get abused. And then called frauds because that’s what the insurance industries brand advertising tells you to believe.
So let me ask you this — if I’m playing the victim, and don’t deserve compensation, how much SHOULD I be out of pocket for as a result of someone elses negligence. (right now, we’re well into the half million dollar bracket) — do you think it’s RIGHT and REASONABLE that I should have to suffer the financial, pain and suffering losses just because the insurance industries are pushing their “victims are frauds” advertising? I suggest I shouldnt’ be out a single cent, I should be in front financially as compensation for the pain and suffering. And there should be a hefty fine for the additional pain and suffering the insurance industry has put me through at the hands of the law with the intent to *profit* from the premiums that were paid with intention to help victims.
Now, I admit that this “should” system creates a system that incentivises people to lie to get money.
But right now, we have a system that *guarantees* people bad outcomes if they either legitimately or illigitimately try and claim compensation at all. You’d just be a fucking lunatic to stay in this system willingly. There is no upside. It’s abusive. It’s a massive amount of additional stress, effort and suffering. It’s unreasonable to force this on victims who just want to get on with their lives.
But are unable, because just by making it “hard to claim” and making the claim amounts “lower than the pension” they force people to comit federal fraud by telling the welfare system “this is your liability” — when it’s not — the insurance company was underwriting it, and they’re neglecting it to profit while they put the federal government on the hook. And they force victims to lie, by virtue of them not receiving help.
It’s not the right thing to do. Regarless of the politics and forced behaviour, this needs changing,a nd it needs changing soon. We the people must change it, or they will continue to abuse, and indeed evolve to increasingly abuse.
One day this could be you. And suicide will seem reasonable to escape the pain and torture of being voiolently abused at the hands of politics with no control or ability to change anything, or even have an impact at all without amassing people who care.
And I have no people who care to help that way. Just people that tell me to accept being fucked on. Quit politics. Accept destitution. And try and be happy.
And the advice mightn’t be bad. But it’s not the right thing to do. And you know it.
I just hope people stand up to be counted soon.
Ben.
Talking IS doing something about it — it’s the only thing that might change the system to help the likes of ‘workcovervictim’ suffer less at the hands of these profit-driven politicians.
If I can’t convince people with talk, then politics has won.
Ben.
What I was trying to say, Ben, is that you seem stuck in the victim’s role, by not wanting to seek help. You, for example write comments about the amount of pain you are in but yet you clearly stated (last week) that you want your brain to be wired to feel that pain and you refuse to be treated for your pain by a pain specialist. You write about your anger, depression, sleeplessness etc and yet you are the one who refuses to see a psychologist or psychiatrist who can surely help you make your life a tad more bearable. You tell us you are forced to work in pain and yet you refuse to “pay” or demand that the TAC pays for ergonomic tools which would take most of that pain away during for example computer tasks.
You want people to change, but what change have you made? Where is your letter, your petition, your call for protest?
I just don’t understand you is what I am trying to say.
On one hand you clearly and genuinely suffer beyond belief (I don’t dispute that), but on the other hand you don’t want any treatment for it (but your compensation money which you may or may not get). Any form of money will surely not take your injuries away, or would it?
So if you refuse to get better, are you then not playing the victim?
I’m not refusing to get better. I’ve seeked every available avenue of help.
I’ve seen something like 35 doctors, been on 25 different courses of drugs, seen both a psychiatrist and a psychologist.
People refuse to accept what my doctors are telling me however. That it’s pain, likely permanent, and any treatment options on the table come with consequences that on balance of probabilities make it not worth doing.
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love a genuine solution. Seriously. But I’m sick of people playing the perpetual optimist, that no matter how many doctors you’ve seen, no matter how many psychs you’ve seen, unless you “go back to being normal” it’s your fault for not seeking more help, and getting better. My objection to “not more” comes not from not wanting to get better, but because I’m realistically out of options, end of the road, my life’s always going to have pain, and lax painful joints and all it’s consequences.
At some point one must acknowledge that the advice my doctors are telling me is true, that it’s a permanent and unfixable condition, and at that point one must go into “so what now” mode. The so what now is a choice between federal fraud and a disability pension, or continuing to beat my head up against an abusive insurance firm intent on profiting at my expense (while selling the general public feel-good lies) — there’s no good outcomes. I’m painted into a corner with no upside.
And this is the abuse which I’m imploring people to get politically active about. A little bit, each. I’ve tried, and am incapable of suffering the burden alone. I need help. Voters help. Your help.
To change this, whether for me or not, but for every other “victim” that suffers at the hands of the insurance companies. (and extending to other questions of social policy with that political momentum — there’s no shortage of issues to tackle)
I’ve called for people to join me. Like Gandhi, at some point I’ll wind up dead. The question is WHEN you join this fight, would you like my voice there too?
Ben.
Hey Ben
I just noted that you mentioned “lax joints”, do you suffer from genetically lax joints? Are all your major joints hurting and unstable? (e.g shoulders, hips, knees)? Did your accident aggravate some of your joints (ankle, knee)? Can you not get some joint braces to help with the instability?
Not that long ago I had a WATSON shoulder brace, for my grossly unstable R shoulder which helped tremendously. May be worth exploring… They have similar braces for ankles and knees…
I’ve always had them, but the crash caused dramatic increase in left ankle, shoulder and elbow.
I’ve been advised medically that wearing a brace would cause long term issues, and is medically contraindicated and inapproprate.
I tried to get one to sleep in, my shoulder dislocating while I’m sleeping is much more problematic for me than daily life, where I can “be careful, conscious, and deliberate” about my movements as much as possible. It was organised through my physio, but it didn’t seem to support the right things, and generally just didn’t fit … always had a problem with things fitting — so if I was to go this path, I’d almost certainly need to get a custom orthotic made.
Sleeping alone has reduced the incidence of dislocations, but it’s hardly a tradeoff worth paying.
Workcovervictim — my deep thanks for allowing me to post on your blog. I mean to inspire, not upset, and I don’t always hit the mark. I’m sorry if you feel like I’m at all grandstanding on your piece of the internet.
Ben.
I know what you mean with the “fitting” part of things - the Watson shoulder brace is custom made, and that’s the best part of it. May be worth a go for your shoulder? It had been suggested to me by a close friend (who is a nurse too) who’s son has a genetic laxity of his joints with major shoulder instability. He did very well with the Watson brace and then I suggested it to my surgeon, who then prescribed it and my physio then measured and organised it and then fitted the brace. I did wear it night and day for months when I was awaiting my 7th surgery (all my ligaments had ruptured) and have recently started sleeping in it again. Obviously for you it’s a fine balance between keeping your own “muscles” strong enough vs. wearing a brace which will weaken those muscles, … mmmh. The other thing that works with me (and I dislocate all the time) is to pin my pijama sleeve (arm) on my pijama top overnight so that I don’t move my arm around in my sleep. May be worth a try and is less annoying than wearing a brace or a sling. It is true though that there is not much to be done when you have lax joints, usually surgery is not advised, and that leaves you pretty much stuffed.
Did you at least get MRI’s done? For if you have torn ligaments/ tendons they would be worth repairing, no?
Re your “footnote”: noted and much appreciated. I try not to take offense but sometimes you seem to take it out on me personally, when all I am trying to do is genuinely help you – with the very limited resources and knowledge that I have. I care a hell of a lot about you and you should never forget that.
I have the ankle one — tried it, it helped with stability, but made my ankle swell quite painfully and badly. Being very careful and deliberate with my steps allows me to walk short distances without significantly making the pain worse than normal, or kick the swelling off. (one wrong step is enough to trigger it though)
My kneeds are fine – just my usual hypermobility, not any injury (that I know about yet) but coping easily with the capability my ankle can suffer.
Ben.
You’re a circus freak
Sorry, may be not that funny!
Basically, yup, circus freak
I’m careless with my words sometimes — I likely have a thought process I was going through, trying to get some point across, and failing — but be sure — I haven’t intentionally tried taking anything out on you personally. I may criticise suggestions/ideas strongly, but that comes from a place of frustration at being constantly required to try and justify myself. I try and be as patient, and suffer explaining with a smile, but I don’t always achieve that aim.
I’ve had ultrasound previously, but my requests so far for an MRI from my upper spine all the way down my left arm has been suggested as not able to justify medically. I suspect it’s fear of litigation and the TAC having a better “standing threat” than I do for medical negligence if they don’t. Doctors may believe they are impartial medical, but they’re also human, and incentives predict behaviour better than simple explanations. And real, legal threats, and financial costs, have more teeth than a hippocratic oath.
It’s been suggested any tearing I might have isn’t worth repairing until it tears “fully” as the consequences of the surgery aren’t worth paying until there’s no excuse to avoid the surgery. Part of teh argument being that my ligaments, even if they tighten them up, will just stretch out again and then I’ll be right back at square 1 with surgical complications on top of my existing issues. And that is apparantly true even if I have tears (which I defintiely do — my left shoulder had a previous tear along the muscle, fluid filled and communicating – discovered under ultrasound perhaps 10 years ago)… same deal though, not worth fixing with the tradeoffs. And back then, it didn’t bother me too badly, I could avoid a few things that didn’t matter too much, and stay as fit and healthy as I could to maintain it. Worked pretty well, only a few dislocations a year. Now it’s pretty much multi-a-day.
As much as I’m required by the “legal” process to have this exhaustive “proof” based evidence of my injuries, doctors don’t like over-prescribing medical tests that dont’ change the diagnosis. The diagnosis in my case — the doctors accept that the crash made my shoulder dramatically worse, and MRI or not, there’s no surgical option worth taking, so the right approach logically is to not do the MRI since it’ won’t result in a better medical outcome, just consume diagnostic resources that could be used to help someone else.
And that approach I think is reasonable, and I support it as part of a well-informed discussion with the patient.
But what I have a problem with is then the legal and insurance industry holding people to a diagnostic standard higher than what *professional medical practice* results in.
I’m ranting again. Sorry about that.
I hope my criticism of your suggestion isn’t taken as a personal criticism ‘workcovervictim’ — i’m frustrated at the system, and trying to explain the processes I see happening as my experience — and it’s a passionate and frustrating topic for me — I really hope you don’t see my words in any way as criticism of you personally, or disincentive for being willing to discuss anything else. (I also welcome criticism of my process – if i’m incorrect logically, factually, whatever — please, criticise hard. It’s welcome, I’m sick of people pussy-footing around me, and behind my back)
Ben.
The only thing I’d criticize is the fact that you have not been able to push for an MRI, especially for your shoulder. There are structures that can tear that are not visible on ultrasound such as the labrum for example. If your shoulder is a lot worse after the crash, chances are that there is something torn inside now, that may be fixed. E.g a torn labrum can be fixed and should get you back where you were before the accident. I can’t believe the docs haven’t at least looked at that! Who did you see? Did you see an upper limb specialist?
There are some weirdos around Melbourne, let me tell you. I saw one (reputable) ortho surgeon who failed to pick up for 2 years that the entire back of my shoulder was also torn! So, it didn’t get fixed until it was picked up 2 years later by another specialist (purely upper limb surgeon) and by then the damage was extensive. That same aforementioned reputable one also failed to pick up that my subclavian artery (the one under the collar bone) was getting blocked off and actually laughed at me when I told him that I was not getting enough blood to my arm… a few weeks later I was in ED and had an emergency decompression, had a rib removed as well as an entire neck muscle to restore the blood supply to my arm!
Surely you are in your body and you know when something is not right, don’t let anyone fob you off and let them prove to you that it’s nothing that can not be fixed the way it was before the accident.
Under the TAC you should be allowed to have a second (or second) opinion(s). I’d say go to a very good and solely upper limb surgeon for an opinion (not just an orthopedic surgeon but one that does only shoulders or upper limbs)….
Years ago I would tell claimants that they must be careful as they often are followed and videotaped. Often this is not just to find out if you are a faker. It may also show how functional you are compared to what a doctor may be saying. If you doctor says stay off your feet or don’t lift more then 10 lbs and you are videotaped walking around for a prolonged time or lifting 20 lbs it hurts your case even if it were one time or after taking pain medication or whatever. Such surveillance does not show the details or that what you did may have exhausted you. It just shows you more functional then what your doctor may have said. I would tell them to follow your doctors restrictions or if you are really having problems to limit your activities at all times. No one is invisible when they go out in public or can be seen from a parked vehicle. Surveillance videos can be shown to a judge and to your doctor so be careful. Doing something one time just because you push through the pain or take something to help with pain is using poor judgement. Get help when you need it or as with shopping shop more often but never disregard your doctor or your own well being. Anyway those were simpler times and now we must all think about new ways to find out about you. Be aware that going online or posting information on Facebook or wherever can be located and often obtained as noted at this other blog. Your activities, your resume, your dreams, your abilities and your goals should be kept private during the workers compensation claim process. To me private means don’t do it at all as thinking you can restrict access is foolish thinking. Further be extra careful with emails too. Those you think are your friends or co-workers can retain emails and they may in some way be used against you. Discussions about your health, your job, your claim and others related to any of that should be severely restricted and ideally eliminated during your claim. A failure to act wisely can mean losing your doctor even your attorney and perhaps your case. Surveillance nowadays is not to be taken lightly.
If anyone thinks that Facebook or other online social networks are not being noticed by attorneys and insurers please look at this detailed legal article that reviews the situation. Moreover investigators can have a motherload of information to use against claimants. Restricting access may not stop them. You may not even realize how it can be used but others know better. For example you go to a rock concert and post about it. It was fun; it lasted 2 hours and everyone was on their feet the entire time. But what did your doctor say? Did he restrict your standing? So now you are seen disregarding your doctor. My view…anyone with such an account should cease posting for the duration of your case or be at risk.
Thank you, PI, for a fabulous and most insightful comment – great tips for all of us indeed.
PI: Part of the problem with being ultra-consistent is that socially, by not “pushing through” you’re deemed to be a faker. So if you spend the 13.5 years that it takes to get to court “being ultra consistent” with doctors advice, you get thrown in the absolute shit socially, and people just don’t want to know about excuses. Man up and do it, or you’re faking. The insurance industry very carefully markets this to society with advertising such as “the best thing for injury is to get back to work” messages. It’s not what they’re saying that’s the problem per-se, it’s what peoples internal message about people with injury becomes.
Keeping everything about my life private during my claim is also abusive — as every “friend” i’ve got is telling me to “stop being pessimistic, wake up, DO something” … the average claim is 13.5 years to settlement, according to the TAC’s own financial reports. That’s a life sentence of social faux-pas that nobody wants to hear the excuse for.
You tell it like it is, but the average joe doesn’t know that, and refuses to make allowances. They want to get on with their lives, and not have to put up with the insurance industries shit. And neither do claimants. So they’re left in the impossible position of not having a life, not trying to make the best of it, all to get paid all to little many years later, even if they’re fully vindicated as fully correct, they were owed the money on day 1. There’s no consequence for the insurance industry in delaying these payments. And great incentive to delay them (they even brag about how much extra profit it makes them by delaying claims in their financial reports – might be tricky to find, but I have read it and if anyones interested in a reference I’m happy to find it for you)
We need to join, and demand that these systems of abuse change, the incentives to abuse Australian citizens for profit this way are removed.
I’m told I need some snappy quote from some famous person here to inspire people to action, but I don’t believe anything will inspire action — largely because people implicitly recognise that they have no power unless everyone jumps together. I’m still here jumping madly. All you have to do is join in. Soon we’ll have the whole planet shaking.
Ben.
I’ve been to a bunch of different orthopedic surgeons — to name the names of the main-contenders,
Chris Pullen
David De La Harpe
David McCombe
Anthony Berger
There was a surgical conference wtih half a dozen surgeons discussing my case (mostly focused on my hand however — seems it’s common for people with “multiple” problems to have “the biggest” focused on at the expense of every other problem)
Largely I kept pushing for outcomes during the first few years, averaged 1-2 doctors visits a week, and I was paying them out of my pocket and letting the bills build up, thinking I’ll submit them to TAC, and they’ll pay, it’ll be no stress, they’re government commission, so they’ll be reasonable about paying for stuff. Since then, and since my finances being stretched, I’ve been forced towards accepting the doctors “accept being stuffed” and towards looking for compensation for my losses. Obviously induces other stresses as one finds out when one tries to claim what should be a simple administratove procedure.
So worn down I can barely cope with the though of more tests, let alone surgery. I want it to all go away so I can have a life back. But it can’t happen, because of the abusive games and incentives the government has set up with it’s racket.
Ben.
Chris Pullen (together with Martin Richardson) told me that there was nothing they could do to fix my shoulder and that it certainly was not unstable. They maintained their opinion until 2 days before an MRI with contrast was done (by an upper limb surgeon specialist) which showed a ruptured labrum (from 2 to 10 o’clock), 2 torn rotator cuff tendons, a fracture of the head of the humerus, a wrongly re-attached ligament and a ruptured capsule at the front!!!! They told me that I had a “frozen shoulder” – how’s that, huh!
I understand that you are sick and tired of doctors and the bills,but if you have some energy left, you should see a top class upper limb surgeon along the lines of Simon Bell, Stewart Proper (but private for they no longer take on TAC or WC cases). Definitely worth a shot in my humble opinion.
Chris Pullen wound up refusing to see me at all simply because I had a TAC case, regardless of my willingness to pay upfront for his services in cash. Even to the point of agressive legal posturing against me.
I think it’s clearly discrimination against a minority group, who most need the help of the medical profession, yet the goverment once again has a policy in place to declare it legal to discriminate against people with disability any way you like because they aren’t specifically written into the discrimination act. Insanity.
Are you encouraging me to lie to Simon/Stewart about it being a TAC case, or do they take TAC cases who pay for their services in cash?
Ben.
I certainly don’t encourage you to lie about the sad fact that it is a TAC case, but unfortunately, like so many good doctors, I believe they have recently stopped seeing WC and TAC patients – hence if you want a decent opinion you’d have to pay for it privately and try to get a refund…I know, I know it’s wrong but at the end of the day it’s about your body!
Some people like Pullen and Richardson are very scared of litigation, I know for a fact that Richardson was involved in a nasty case around 2004 that back fired on him…. Maybe that’s why they decided no longer to deal with us….
Practically all of the doctors I’ve seen I’ve paid for cash out of my pocket and claimed it back. Deny, delay, lost paperwork, certified, registered, reconciliation spreadsheets, partial payments, incorrect payment amounts entered in their systems… Insanity that is a mental stress I don’t cope with on so many levels.
There’s no doubt in my mind that the litigation has hamstrung doctors ability to treat us. The only solution I can think of other than political change to remove the incentives to abuse from the system, is to privately hire a lawyer and have a strong legal threat to sue the doctor for negligence you make on the first day you see them that if they aren’t fully acting in your interests, to the fullest extent of evidence-based-medicine, then they’ll receive a negligence suit (and what ever other charges can be dreamed up – financial advantage through deception perhaps?)
The intent being not to be unreasonable towards doctors, but just simply to counter the standing legal threat that hamstrings doctors from being doctors — balance the threat evenly from both sides, so it’s balanced.
I can think of many reasons why it won’t work, but I’m at least trying to find a solution still, rather than giving up.
What do you think?
Ben.
I think the biggest underlying issue is that the TAC and WC don’t pay the doctors well (not as well as a full private fee) for our treatment, then pester them with ridiculous amounts of paper work and reports for which they are NOT paid, not to mention the the telephone calls and the outright abuse they cop from case managers. My own surgeon has had the displeasure to be told by my medically untrained pond scum case manager that she does not believe what he says and she has, on many occasions, counterpointed his opinions, diagnoses and treatments (on the phone!). He has personally told me that “she clearly has it in for me”. And then comes the frustration these well meaning doctors face with all the insane red tape, weeks, months waiting for a prescribed MRI, for surgery that is needed etc. It’s very demoralising for them (I have been told on many occasions) as they feel powerless against these insurance companies and are not able to offer the best treatment/or to have to see their patients getting worse and worse because that surgery can’t be done in a timely manner etc etc. If you then add the risk of litigation or having one’s precious time sucked up as a potential medical expert to testify… not to mention all the other medico-legal reports they have to write for the defense… well, what would you do, given a chance? Business is business and if you can see 5 patients instead of 1 or 2 WC or TAC and not have to deal with paper work, abuse, red tape, insults… I do understand them.
So basically the problem lies in how the doctors are being treated by the insurance companies, and how our own government lets this happen….
It’s like if you were asked to do an IT job for an insured party and they (the insurance) would give you hell doing the job, not pay you well at all, suck up your time, make you wait yonks for the parts you need to get the job done, tell you that you don’t do it right… wouldn’t you also, in the end, give up, even if ultimately the job you’re doing is for a poor bastard? If that poor bastard then came along and threatened to sue you directly instead if you weren’t going to take on this job (for which you would not be paid well and suffer a hell of shit), how would you feel then?
I don’t blame them.
Yet, the fact is we do need our good doctors and thus we must advocate for a change: decent pay, no red tape, autonomy, let the doctor judge how and when to treat the patient without interference from numpties,not have their patient’s physio cut off when they actually need physio etc etc.
Does this make sense?
I don’t blame them either, like I keep saying, the problem is politics.
I’ve been busting myself wtih effort, at great pain, trying to convince people, here and elsewhere that political action needs to be undertaken to fix this, and we need to have leverage as citizens to be able to threaten politicians with or they will simply ignore us (as they have other lobby groups applying pressure they can’t ignore — in those difficult circumstances, the ignorable will get ignored)
However everything I’ve tried has failed. I do not know how to convince people this needs changing. As far as I can tell, the average joe is happy with the system as is (perhaps it doesn’t affect them yet? — they’re making a “good for themselves” vs “good of society” tradeoff in their direction) — in a society filled with selfish high pressure games, it’s hard to blame them for that either.
But the citizenry also the only ones that can really change it. Stand up for what’s right, not what you can get away with. Take the right road, not the easy road.
And it’s a leap too far, as people are thoroughly sold on the high pressure games of the modern world and are unwilling to make a sacrifice for the common good.
And that keeps victims utterly trapped, no leverage, no union, no lobby group, no advocacy group, and barely with the help that friends and family offer up as tokens from their own high pressure, modern-busy lives.. Until they stop.
I hope I’m not demoralising anyone from having hope.
I’ll wont be posting any more, thanks for the ears that have listened.
Ben.