Nerd seeks RSI-savvy Seattle physical medicine MD for L&I appeal
December 3, 2013 8:38 AM Subscribe
Can you recommend a Seattle physical medicine doctor who can help me with my bad hands and my L&I claim?
I'm a software engineer. I've been managing repetitive stress injuries in my hands and forearms for a decade now.
In 2007, I had a flareup serious enough to sideline me for awhile. L&I paid for some physical therapy and I got better.
Last September, it flared up again and I filed another L&I claim. But when I got into my family doctor's office, the doctor insisted that the injury must be spinal in natural, because the symptoms were bilateral. (I explained that I switch mouse hands periodically but that didn't sway him.) He ordered an MRI on my neck, which L&I covered, and which, thankfully, came back negative.
I insisted my doc refer me to physical therapy, and he did after some grumbling. I had an appointment with a therapist, who gave me a much more comprehensive exam than my doctor and who said that I definitely had some issues. Alas, L&I refused to cover that appointment or any future ones, stating that "there must be objective medical documentation that supports the work place condition or job process is a proximate cause of the disease."
L&I has a process for protesting these decisions. I've called around to some workplace injury attorneys to see if I could get some guidance on how to prepare this protest, but no one's returning my calls. I don't think the dollar value of my case warrants an attorney's time. So it looks like I'm on my own here.
...which brings me to AskMeFi: I need to find a doctor who can write this problem up in a way that will satisfy L&I so I can get some physical therapy and stop hurting. It feels like a shot in the dark, but maybe someone out there has a story like mine and can offer a suggestion.
I'm a software engineer. I've been managing repetitive stress injuries in my hands and forearms for a decade now.
In 2007, I had a flareup serious enough to sideline me for awhile. L&I paid for some physical therapy and I got better.
Last September, it flared up again and I filed another L&I claim. But when I got into my family doctor's office, the doctor insisted that the injury must be spinal in natural, because the symptoms were bilateral. (I explained that I switch mouse hands periodically but that didn't sway him.) He ordered an MRI on my neck, which L&I covered, and which, thankfully, came back negative.
I insisted my doc refer me to physical therapy, and he did after some grumbling. I had an appointment with a therapist, who gave me a much more comprehensive exam than my doctor and who said that I definitely had some issues. Alas, L&I refused to cover that appointment or any future ones, stating that "there must be objective medical documentation that supports the work place condition or job process is a proximate cause of the disease."
L&I has a process for protesting these decisions. I've called around to some workplace injury attorneys to see if I could get some guidance on how to prepare this protest, but no one's returning my calls. I don't think the dollar value of my case warrants an attorney's time. So it looks like I'm on my own here.
...which brings me to AskMeFi: I need to find a doctor who can write this problem up in a way that will satisfy L&I so I can get some physical therapy and stop hurting. It feels like a shot in the dark, but maybe someone out there has a story like mine and can offer a suggestion.
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