Q: When should I hire an attorney to appeal a permanent partial disability claim?
Was awarded workers comp for acute leukemia caused by chemicals. Had several permanent physical changes (kidney issues, permanent ostomy, ostopenia, heart issues, sterile) due to extensive treatment and bad reactions to treatment. Workers comp only awarded PPD for one of the physical changes although I have extensive doctors notes backing up the others. Have initial appeal phone call with Workers Comp in a few days but am wondering when or if I should hire an attorney to help fight this. Thanks.
A:
I say this as someone who is not a workers comp attorney: Please, never go through a WA workers compensation claim without an attorney again. It's possible you've left an enormous amount of money on the table. People get fee sensitive when thinking about workers comp attorneys, knowing they take part of regular time loss, but they don't know that this is more than offset by having someone wring every last dollar out of your claim, whether it be increasing your time loss amount to the correct one, elongating your claim by more than the time loss attorney fee (let's say they take 15%, and they keep your claim going more than 15% longer than you could on your own - which is a universal result with an attorney worth their salt), increasing your PPD amount, or getting you a pension you wouldn't get on your own.
You should look one up immediately after reading this message. Just be wary. There's a firm or two that spends boatloads on workers comp attorney ads but don't have any workers comp attorneys on their website. Look up everyone's reviews on Google and Avvo before making a decision. Good luck to you!
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