Job related injury

The worker's compensation laws of the separate states (and the federal employee and RR scheme) do vary quite a bit. One characteristic of most WC systems is that they tend to be administrative in nature rather than Court administered (or adjudicated,except on appeal). The focus is on providing care directed related to the on the job injury in order to get the employee back to work, and in most states the employer must acquire insurance to cover the costs and handle the claims for employer.

For obvious reasons the disputed issues usually include whether the injury is job related (because the laws don't require the insurer to bear the costs of treatment is the injury is not job related). If the matter isn't resolved by negotiation then the rules and regulations of most states permit employee to challenge a denial to treat, either in writing, through a hearing, or through another process. But the procedure can quickly become complicated due to the legal and medical niceties in applying your states rules, and deciding the facts and the meaning of those facts. For this reason, if the denial of benefits is significant, it is probably advisable to retain or at least consult with a licensed attorney on your state who concentrates their practice in this area of the law.

If you have another alternative for obtaining the treatment like health insurance, or qualification for some assisted payment plan you might consider this route and then let the insurers dispute who is responsible for the costs of treatment.

State Required Legal Ethics Disclosure: This Answer and any information contained in this answer is not intended to be treated as legal advice, but is offered solely for educational and information purposes. This posting does not create an attorney-client relationship or privilege of any kind. This attorney licensed only in Georgia.

Washington state has very specific laws for how L&I claims can and cannot be handled. I will confess that I generally do not handle L&I, however, I know there are many extremely well qualified L&I attorneys in Seattle. I have had great success with sending my clients to Jon Winemiller at the Walthew Law Firm. You can look him up on Avvo. I'm sure he'll be able to either help you or get you pointed in the right direction.

I do not practice in your State, therefore this response is merely general information. If the work injury has aggravated the tumor then its treatment may be payable by the WC carrier, eventhough the tumor was not caused by the work injury. So, the neurosurgeon should address whether the work injury and treatment for the work injury is aggravating the tumor. That is relevant to the decision of who has to pay for the treatment. The WC carrier is doing its job by asking the question concerning the relatedness of the the condition to the work injury. I do not think it is appropriate for any medical information to be withheld. The MRI results are part of your medical file and you should be entitled to a copy of the report and film.