Q: worker’s comp, EMP is injured, MNG delays report, told to return to work, injuries worsen, negligence or liable on MNG?

A: Whether the manager is negligent is most likely irrelevant. In a workers' compensation case, the injured employee is NOT REQUIRED to prove that his/her employer or one of his/her fellow employees was negligent. Workers' compensation provides medical benefits, temporary income benefits, impairment income benefits, and in cases of very serious injuries supplemental and lifetime income benefits for work-related injuries.

Any delay by the manager in making a report is unlikely to be a cause in fact of any damages. The injured employee can choose any doctor willing to accept him/her as a patient as the treating doctor immediately after the injury regardless of whether the manager makes a report. The employee's treating doctor, not the manager, has to make any decision as to whether the employee is unable to return to work as a result of the injury. If the treating doctor determines that the employee is unable to return to work, the manager does not have the power to countermand the treating doctor.

I don't find it particularly disturbing that a treating doctor refused an MRI for a hand fracture depending upon the type of fracture. That is a medical decision and could well be within the standard of care based upon the particular facts and circumstances of that particular case. If the treating doctor's decision fell below the standard of care and the patient sustained damages as a result of that decision, the employee may have a claim for medical malpractice against his treating doctor. But employee will need another medical professional in the same area of practice as his treating doctor to determine if the treating doctor's decision fell below the standard of care.