What is the difference between an personal injury attorney and a workers' compensation attorney?

Most, if not all, states have Workers Compensation systems that prevent or substantially limit a worker from being able to pursue a more traditional personal injury claim against their employer. These systems generally limit the recovery the worker can make via a workers compensation claim, which is pursued not in the regular courts but in special administrative tribunals (workers compensation courts). In Pennsylvania, a worker injured in the course of his employment generally cannot sue his employer in a personal injury lawsuit, but rather he can only make a claim for his injuries through the workers compensation system, where his remedies will be limited to recovering lost wages, lost wage capacity (including lump sum settlements for future lost wages in many cases), and medical expense costs. The employer is immune from a regular personal injury lawsuit and cannot be made to pay for pain and suffering.

The trade-off for the worker's loss of the right to collect for pain and suffering is supposed to be a streamlined system where injuries resulting in disability are quickly recognized and claims paid. This is unfortunately not always the case, as employers and their workers compensation insurance representives work hard to fight a great percentage of claims. A common tactic in Pennsylvania is the use of a "Temporary" Notice of Compensation Payable, which is not a true recognition of an employee's claim since it does not bind the employer if they simply withdraw it within ninety days -- pulling the rug out from under the injured worker and puting the burden on that worker to pursue their claim in the workers compensation system.

The one significant benefit to the worker who cannot sue his employer in a traditional lawsuit for pain and suffering is that, in Pennsylvania at least (and I believe in many other jurisdictions), there is no need for the worker to prove negligence or fault on the part of the employer. The injured worker may properly pursue a claim and receive benefits so long as his injury happened in the course of his employment -- with no need to prove it happened due to negligence, carelessness. A simple accident, even if it was due to the employee's own negligence or inattention, will be compensable if it happened in the course and scope of the employment and results in disability from the pre-injury job.

Many Personal Injury attorneys "dabble" in workers compensation. "Real" workers comp lawyers (and judges) can spot those dabblers a mile away. Workers Compensation Law in many states has evolved into a highly specialized area of practice. Look for an attorney who is a member of his local Bar Association's Workers' Compensation Committee and who has a significant practice concentration in Workers' Compensation.

As to your concern with RSD (now more properly called Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome), I am surprised you are having difficulty finding a lawyer with experience. It is not an uncommon diagnosis. You will find, of course, that insurance company doctors insist that it is frequently misdiagnosed -- that is, they claim it is diagnosed too often and improperly. Insurance doctors try to portray persons with RSD as if the condition is not there unless it is so severe that it is showing up as reduced bone density on a bone scan (when, in fact, this generally occurs only in persons whose RSD has reached a phase III level, as many never do). Other objective clinical indicators (such as changes in coloration of the skin, temperature changes in the affected extremity, changes in skin texture, etc.) may be present only some of the time - so that if they are not present at the time of an insurance examination, the diagnosis is challenged.

You are right to seek a lawyer familiar with RSD, as they will need that background to properly cross-examine insurance doctors. But stick with a true Workers Compensation lawyer if the injury that triggered the diagnosis happened at work.

If you are injured on the job, you should hire a workers' compensation attorney. Work injury cases are not handled in the main court system, but rather in a specialized system just for injured workers. You need an attorney with experience navigating workers' compensation. If you need help finding someone, let me know. I'm licensed in Illinois, but I know attorneys in your area who may be able to help. Feel free to contact me.

Many attorneys handle automobile collisions and say that they are personal injury attorneys. This can be misleading. A personal injury lawyer has knowledge, skill and experience in and out of court on the following: automobile injuries, medical malpractice injuries, product liability injuries and workers' compensation injuries. Be careful to select someone with knowledge in ALL of the areas involved in your case, or you may find that your case is divided up between a rag tag group of lawyers who do not understand what the other is up to.