Do I have to turn over my private medical and financial information to the insurance company as part of my Minnesota workers’ compensation or personal injury claim?

We frequently get calls from our Minnesota personal injury and workers’ compensation clients wondering why they must sign authorizations for the release of their medical records, tax information, and wage records. While it’s not necessarily a pleasant thing to turn over your private health and financial information to an insurance company, if you’re bringing a personal injury claim or workers’ compensation claim, in some respects, your life becomes an open book. So, yes, generally, you are required to turn over your medical and financial information to the insurance company as part of the discovery process in a Minnesota personal injury or workers’ compensation claim.

Order picking and material handling is an important task in most manufacturing industries and, unfortunately, on-the-job injuries are not uncommon. Back injuries incurred while lifting are among the most common hazards for order pickers. But order pickers also face risks of other types of injuries, including trips and falls, shoulder, elbow or arm strains, injuries from falling objects, and injuries involving forklifts and other material-handling equipment.
Order pickers and other material handlers should observe the following precautions to avoid the most common types of on-the-job injuries:

• Use material-handling aids, such as hand trucks and four-wheeled carts whenever possible to minimize heavy lifting and carrying.
• Keep materials and supplies stored at a level between the knees and shoulders. It is much more physically strenuous to lift things from below knee level or from above shoulder height.
• Slide, push, or pull materials and supplies whenever possible to avoid heavy lifting and carrying.
• Avoid twisting the body while carrying a heavy object. Ask a co-worker for help when carrying a heavy object.
• Use both hands when carrying loads and keep the load close to the body.
• Rotate heaving lifting duties with lighter work to reduce wear and tear on the body.

It is extremely important that you have trust and confidence in your attorney. Many times I talk to people who are already represented in their Minnesota workers’ compensation claims and they reach out for a second opinion or have questions that their present attorney isn’t answering for them. It is important to know that you are able to switch attorneys at any point in your representation, without any cost to you. If you choose to switch attorneys, you can continue treating with your present doctor, you can continue seeing your current Qualified Rehabilitation Consultant (QRC).

With regard to attorneys’ fees, it doesn’t matter whether you switch. Regardless, attorneys’ fees are capped at 20% for all Minnesota workers’ compensation attorneys. If we do settle your case or get a resolution hearing, it is between your present attorney and your prior attorney to sort out the fees amongst themselves. You will not have to pay any additional monies for making the switch.

Therefore, if you have any questions or need a second opinion with regard to your claim, feel free to give us a call at Meuser Law Office, P.A. We are happy to answer any questions you may have or give you a second opinion. Again, it is so important that you have trust and confidence in your attorney.

That’s a tough question. While skin cancer, in some instances, could arguably be an occupational disease that was substantially caused by a workers’ sun exposure while on the job, the difficulty is in proving the medical causal relationship between the skin cancer and the work activities.

Sun cancer is the most common form of cancer in the United States and sun exposure is, without question, a cause of skin cancer. But, whether that exposure is during work hours or outside of work hours would be hard to determine. Because it would be so difficult to pinpoint the exact cause of skin cancer in terms of which period of sun exposure actually caused the cancer to develop, workers who develop skin cancer are probably going to have a difficult time in establishing these occupational disease claims for purposes of Minnesota workers’ compensation coverage.