Lump Sum Settlements for Injured Nurses

Chicago Lawyers for Healthcare Workers

Nursing is a physical job that sometimes results in stress and strain injuries. Additionally, you may regularly be exposed to infectious diseases, radiation, and toxic substances while caring for patients. Often, nurses work grueling shifts. You may be injured or made sick on the job and need to file a workers’ compensation claim. While the system should be easier for workers to secure needed benefits, it can still be quite challenging to navigate. Sometimes, companies seek to resolve their workers’ compensation liabilities by offering lump sum settlements for injured nurses. Before accepting such an offer, you should meet with the experienced Chicago workers’ compensation attorneys of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca for a consultation.

Lump Sum Settlements for Injured Nurses in Chicago

As a nurse injured on the job, you are entitled to receive benefits to ease the difficulties of recuperating, along with reasonable and necessary medical care. Other benefits can include temporary total disability benefits, permanent partial disability benefits, and permanent total disability benefits. At some point, your employer’s insurer may offer you a lump sum settlement. The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Act provides that you have the right to accept it rather than be paid in installments. A lump sum settlement is a single payment intended to fully settle a case. In other words, the insurer will make one final upfront payment in exchange for a release of its responsibility to pay future benefits. However, you should retain a lawyer to analyze the deal before accepting a lump sum settlement. If your injury requires additional unanticipated treatment or recuperation time, you risk not having benefits sufficient to cover future care or disability expenses.

Often when you settle a case for a lump sum, you’re able to get compensation more quickly than you can receive if you contest a hearing. It can be very tempting. However, it’s important to realize that if you take a lump sum settlement, you may not be able to obtain future medical benefits or disability payments once the settlement is approved.

In many instances, employers and insurers try to offer a settlement because it will cost them less in the long run than making regular payments. As a nurse with a serious injury, you may find yourself unable to work somewhere down the line due to a serious work injury. It’s crucial to retain attorneys who understand how to protect the legal rights of injured workers and when lump sum settlements for injured nurses are appropriate.

Maximum Medical Improvement

You should wait until you reach maximum medical improvement before accepting a lump sum settlement. Maximum medical improvement is the point in treatment when a doctor believes that you will not improve any further in your medical condition. You may not have completely recovered at this point. In fact, you may be permanently disabled and unable to work. However, you have been treated and you are as well healed as you can be.

Reviewing Lump Sum Settlement Agreements

When reviewing lump sum settlement agreements for injured nurses, we will evaluate the benefits and disadvantages of accepting a payment. There may be some advantages to accepting a lump sum settlement. For instance, if your employer’s insurer is heavily disputing your claim and taking it through the administrative process, and you’ve reached MMI, it might be appropriate to take a reasonable settlement, though it’s still important to talk to a lawyer.

The Illinois Workers’ Compensation Commission needs to approve your settlement. After that, you should have a window of time within which to ask for additional medical care that you reasonably need for the work-related injury. If your employer or its insurer refuses, you can petition the Commission.

Retain an Experienced Chicago Attorney

Lump sum settlements for nurses require diligent investigation and strong negotiation to protect your rights. The seasoned Chicago lawyers of Katz, Friedman, Eisenstein, Johnson, Bareck & Bertuca are dedicated to fighting for nurses who were injured on the job. We also represent injured nurses in Quincy, Champaign, Rockford, and Aurora, as well as Winnebago, Sangamon, Cook, Kane, and Adams Counties. Call us at 312-724-5846 or complete our online form.