Posted on February 20, 2019
What do you do if you need surgery for your work injury and the time is about to expire?
Under the workers compensation law introduced in 2015, workers who have an injury at work now have a limited period of time to seek the medical treatment they need to try to recover and rebuild their lives.
Just how long the medical expense entitlement period extends very much depends on how long you are in receipt of payments if you cannot work because of your work injury.
If you never take time off work because of your work injury, then this period of time will more likely than not be limited to only 12 months.
This can create all sorts of dilemmas because medical treatment does not always go to plan and sometimes surgery has to be put off, you might be delayed in being able to have surgery for other reasons, or you get the run around from the insurer about the costs of surgery. There are many, many other reasons why timing can be problematic under such rigid laws.
The law does give some relief about time limits specifically for surgery that has not been carried out before the end of the medical expense entitlement period. But timing is everything.
To access this, you must put in an application before the end of the medical expense entitlement period. If you miss that boat, you can find yourself in all sorts of difficulty – even if you were otherwise a fit and proper candidate for this entitlement.
It is very important that you seek legal advice early. It is also important that you raise future treatment with your medical doctors. The combination of the two will go a long way to covering you when the time comes to decide about whether a future surgery application needs to be made.
Failing to get the advice you need, legal and medical, early can lead to you missing out and compromising on your health and ability to recover from your injury.
If you need advice or assistance on an issue like this or similar, you can contact one of our lawyers who can explain the process and what is involved so you can make an informed decision about what to do with your future before the time runs out. If your time has run out, you should still seek legal advice because sometimes the law provides timing remedies.