Nevada employees whose work-related accident or occupational illness occurs after 7/1/15 are entitled to receive the lesser of 2/3 of their actual average monthly, or 2/3 of the state maximum average monthly wage of $5,426.25.   If the injured worker was making more than the state maximum, she is only entitled to receive 2/3 of the state maximum.  That means that if the injured worker is off work due to the injury for a month, or her employer does not have light duty work within the doctor’s restrictions, she will receive $3,617.50 in compensation benefits that month.   The usual 14-day...

The 78th session of the Nevada legislature closed last night with a close call for Nevada's most severely injured workers.   The self-insured employers' lobbyist tried a last minute attack on how  permanent partial disability awards are calculated by pushing for adoption of the 6th edition of the AMA Guides to Evaluation of Permanent Impairment.  Changing from the AMA Guides 5th edition to the 6th edition would have reduced many awards by significant amounts of money, particularly spinal injury awards.  Earlier in the legislative session the self-insured employers had tried  to pass a law...

Traumatic brain injuries that happen at work are almost always caused by a fall from a ladder, the roof of a building, the top of a truck, scaffolding, or on a construction site.   The injured worker may or may not lose consciousness immediately following the accident, and there are usually other physical injuries such as spinal fractures and broken bones in addition to a skull fracture or bleeding in the brain.  The injured worker is usually taken by ambulance to the nearest emergency room at a hospital where the trauma team works to stabilize the patient and assess the brain injury. ...

Following every visit to your authorized treating doctor, be sure to ask the doctor or his assistant for a copy of the doctor’s physician progress report.  There is a DIR-approved form that most doctors use, although some have modified the form to include their office address, phone number, and have slightly different boxes for slightly different information.  The physician progress report is sent by the doctor’s office to your adjuster following each visit and tells the adjuster what further treatment is planned, what the work restrictions are for the next month, or whether the doctor has...

Fire fighters have a law entitling them to workers’ compensation benefits under a law written especially for fire fighters.  NRS 617.453 provides for a rebuttable presumption that a cancer is work-related for fire fighters with 5 years or more of full-time, continuous employment if the   person was exposed to a known carcinogen and the carcinogen is associated with the disabling cancer.  This law also gives examples of known carcinogens and the disabling cancers that are linked to those carcinogens.  The list of known carcinogens and the disabling cancers that are associated with them is...

As you know, I offer a free review of your Nevada  rating evaluation on your workers' compensation claim if you fax it to me with what you think might be wrong with the rating. My fax number is (702) 731-9097.  Additionally, I will be posting one of my readers' questions regarding permanent partial disability awards each month for all my readers with my response. Here's this month's question:   Q:  I think I need more treatment, but the adjuster scheduled me for a rating exam. Should I go?   A:  Yes, you should attend the rating exam even if you think you need more...

Most injured workers who hire attorneys do so because they are not satisfied with the medical care they are getting for their work injury. Although I am limited by current law to selecting medical providers on a particular insurer's provider list, I consider it a very important part of my job to make sure that my clients are getting the best possible medical care. I try to personally meet orthopedic physicians, neurosurgeons, psychologists, physiatrists, pain management doctors, and physical therapists. I met another physical therapist this week to treat my own sore shoulder and neck after...