Public Health Law Map - Beta 5 - Medical and Public Health Law Site

compensation system. The company may have policies or incentives that encourage
employees to say that a work injury is not work related. Or the employee may simply
not understand that it is illegal to lie about whether an injury occurred at work.
Medical care providers should be very careful about treating work injuries as though
they were personal. If the patient is already being treated when the physician learns
that this may be work related, the physician should contact the employer
immediately. Treating a workers’ compensation injury as personal just to be sure you
get paid is clearly fraud against the health insurer and may be a specific crime under
the state’s insurance laws.
2. Work Relatedness
A physician does not have to investigate whether an injury or illness was caused by
the work environment. The doctor’s role is to provide good medical care. The
workers’ compensation system will decide whether the problem is work related. The
doctor should keep good records that include information about underlying medical
problems and that differentiate between what the patient said and what were
objective findings.
If either the doctor or the patient thinks the problem may be work related, the doctor
should contact the employer. The employer can provide information about the work
environment and the availability of work accommodations. This is good business as
well as good medicine. Large employers are constantly looking for physicians in the
community who are acceptable to the employees and cooperative with the company.
In some cases the company may remove the patient from care, but they may also
send the doctor more business.
There are also situations where the employee may firmly believe that their problem is
work related when it clearly is not. The patient with asthma may be convinced that
he was exposed to chemical fumes at work. A call to the employer may provide the
information that the work environment is continuously monitored for toxins and that
the only exposure was to the air- freshener in the bathroom.
Talk to the appropriate people at the company if there are questions about whether
the problem is work related. “It seems reasonable” is not a good reason for accusing
a company of wrongdoing. One inappropriate public remark can cost a business
millions of dollars and defamation is not covered by your medical malpractice
insurance.
3. Emergency Treatment
Even in states where the employer has the sole right to choose medical care providers
under workers’ compensation, there is an exception for emergency care. If a patient
presents to an emergency room or a doctor’s office with an injury or illness that may
threaten life or limb, that person should be treated appropriately. Most hospitals and
emergency room personnel are well aware of the penalties under federal law for
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