To qualify for benefits from the Fund we need to prove several things. First, we need to prove that you suffered an industrial injury that has caused you have an overall rating prior to modification of either 5% or 35%.  If we go the 5% route we also must prove that your industrial injury affected your arm, your leg, your eye, etc., and that the pre-existing disability affected the opposite body part.  Make sure to explain how you hurt yourself at work and everything that you injured.  This includes disabilities that perhaps came about after the injury which were caused by the injury, including examples like car accidents on your way to treatment, depression, lack of sex drive, overusing one arm because the other hurt causing trouble with both arms now, or perhaps losing your balance and falling sustaining additional problems.  If anything like that happened in your case you must document it and provide that information to the doctor in order to prevail in this claim.

 

We then must prove an overall disability from your industrial injury and your pre-existing disabilities which combines to at least a 70% rating. It will be easier to do that in our previous workers’ compensation case because we may consider any pre-existing problems you had going back to your youth. You want to tell the doctor about any medical problems that you had going back in your life, even problems that had no relationship to employment or workers’ compensation.  Any pre-existing disability we can prove will help prove the 70% or greater rating we need. Tell the doctor about every problem you ever had over your lifetime. This includes everything from memory loss due to partying as a teenager, internal problems such as heart or lung or diabetes, arthritis, prior surgeries or injuries,  scars, sexual problems, bladder/bowel problems, anxiety, depression, sleep problems, heartburn, basically anything that ever caused you a problem over your life we need those investigated and documented.

 

We then need to show that our client had a problem affecting the opposite side before you had this injury.  I need you to do a great job explaining to the doctor all of your problems and what parts of your body were affected so we can make sure that everything is documented and proven.

 

If we can show that a client had a previous problem and then this injury, and then together with everything considered you are very disabled, or even unable to work you will be entitled to a pension in addition to the other benefits in your case, subject to various credits which make the calculation of the pension somewhat complicated and beyond the scope of this letter.