Hi this is Brian Wiklendt with Garfinkel Schwartz I’m coming to you from the Titusville Florida
office on the space coast of Florida today. We also have offices in Maitland Florida which
is a suburb of Orlando. However we do travel wherever you are all across the country because
these types of issues are federal in nature and they apply to overseas civilians that
get injured.
Today I’d like to talk to those people that already know what the defense base act is
they’re already under the Defense Base Act and they’re getting benefits from the insurance
company or the employer under the Defense Base Act for their injuries. And these people
in my opinion are rather rare, but they’re being treated correctly under the law by the
carrier or the company. Meaning that they are paying for your medical expenses, they’re
paying for your time off of work in the appropriate manner and everything seems to be going very
smoothly for you.
The problem is that sometime down the road, no matter when that may be, could be years
from now may be months from now, the insurance company or the company are going to find a
way to cut you off and it happens time and time again. All they have to find is any shrivel
of evidence or any type of something in writing from a medical provider that will enable them
to make even if it’s a frivolous argument to make any type of argument to cut you off.
When I say cut you off I don’t mean that they actually notify you and give you advance
notice. No. You just go to your mailbox one day and your check isn’t there. And then
you receive something from the department of labor showing that they’re now cutting
all of your benefits off and that’s your final compensation that you got on your last
check. What that happens to families is atrocious.
Could you imagine you know thinking that you’re going to get a check every other week for
a certain amount you’ve gotten for the last year while you’ve been cooped up in your
house injured not able to work and then all of a sudden out of nowhere well, just hey
maybe they just forgot.
No, no, no, they didn’t forget they got an independent medical examiner or a labor
market survey, someone that says, “hey, this person can work all of sudden,” or
“hey, this person doesn’t need this medical benefit, I think they should be fine.”
And the problem is when they cut you off, the determination of the cutoff is most normally
when you’re being treated correctly supposedly determined by an insurance adjuster.
Now I’m not a doctor but certainly they’re not doctors either and they’re making a
decision on your lifestyle and your livelihood as to when you should be cutoff and when you
should remain getting paid. They also make decisions obviously they base it on medical
reviews and things on their side that they have to determine, “oh you don’t need
the surgery that’s just been recommended, you don’t need this medication for your
PTSD that’s just nonsense, you don’t need that!”
Well could you imagine having severe PTSD taking all types of severe medications and
then just all of a sudden being cutoff?
I mean, that happens, it has happened to my colleagues and my friends and my clients,
it’s happened. And it’s a sad state of affairs. But that’s what happens sooner
or later during your claim. It could happen seven years later.
I’ve had clients that have been treated fairly, of course hoping that I have
something to do with that, but then all of a sudden after seven, eight years they get
an independent medical exam from a doctor that has never seen my clients. They’re
called peer reviews they review records and they say hey no problem, this person should
be up and running by now, it’s been too long. Boom, you’re cutoff. With no fair
notice, no warning.
What I’m telling you is, it doesn’t hurt you and it only helps you to get an attorney
right off the bat. Even for you people that I’m talking about, that feel that you’re
being treated fairly because sooner or later, I guarantee it, that you will not be treated
fairly and the value of your claim will be diminished as much as possible by the insurance
company or the company that you work for.
Thank you for listening, I’m always here to help, I’m Brian Wiklendt signing off
with Garfinkel Schwartz from the Titusville Florida office, thank you very much for your
time.