Pre-Existing Injuries
I would appreciate any help you can offer. All that I'm about to tell you has happened in the state of South Carolina.
My mother was having knee trouble and went to the doctor. This was last month. He told her she had a loose tendon and told her a couple of exercises she could do to help.
Three weeks ago, she was going down the steps at her workplace when her knee gave out and popped. She saw a specialist who said she does have a loose tendon and her cartilage is torn. She had surgery this morning.
Workers comp. paperwork was completed at the time of her injury and someone called my mother two weeks ago. Mom was honest and told them that she did have a pre-existing problem with that knee and she was only walking down the steps at the time her knee gave out. She also told them that several days earlier she moved something with her foot (at work) and her knee was sore after that. She didn't report that incident because she didn't think anything of it. She did mention it to a friend/coworker but that's it. The woman she talked to said they would not cover the claim. I don't know if she gave a reason or went into any detail.
What bothers me about this whole deal is where I work (not the same place as my mom) we've had two employees with pre-existing conditions aggravate their injuries on the job and workers comp. covered them. One employee had an old football injury and was telling his coworkers about it. The second employee had an unknown physical problem that was aggravated at work. He had a degenerative disc in his back and when we picked something up and went to walk away, he hurt his back. I don't remember what he was picking up but it wasn't anything heavy.
So what I'd like to know is, should my mothers injury be covered? If so, what step do we need to take next? If not, why isn't it covered? If she's not supposed to be covered, that's fine. But I don't want her to be told no if she's entitled to compensation.
I'm sorry this is so lenghty. I tried to give as much information as I could in hopes it will be helpful. I would appreciate any information you could give me. Thank you for your time.
|
Linear Mode
