Hand and Wrist Injuries

Injuries to the hands and wrists are particularly debilitating. Things that used to be routine can become impossible. This includes everything from driving to brushing your teeth. At the same time, the human hand and wrist contains hundreds of bones and ligaments that create a complex part of the body. With such complexity and intricacy, these injuries can sometimes be difficult to treat.

These issues make it all the more important that Workers Compensation benefits cover workers who suffer these injuries. Workers who struggle to do basic things cannot be expected to go back to their jobs. Therefore, wage benefits, including total disability and partial disability, are important to bridge the gap until you can go back to work. Similarly, medical benefits are important to get you the treatment needed to be able to get back to full strength.

There are many ways that workers injure their hands and wrists on the job. However, our attorneys do see them more often in certain situations. These include:

• Repetitive Motion Injuries: Many workers do the same thing every day. When this includes doing the same motion with your hands for days, weeks, months, and years, the bones and muscles in your hands and wrists wear down over time. This causes many types of injuries, including common ones like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.
• Heavy Machine Injuries: When heavy machinery has moving parts, workers hands and arms sometimes get stuck, causing catastrophic injuries. While there are many safety mechanisms in place on many of these machines, sometimes these safety mechanisms are overridden or simply don’t do enough to protect from injury.
• Lifting Injuries: Workers are often required to lift heavy objects. Whether it’s materials on a construction site, office supplies, or even lifting a patient, hand and wrist injuries happen.

If you hurt your hands and wrist in a work accident, you are entitled to workers compensation benefits. This includes:

• Wage Replacement: Whether you are totally disabled or partially disabled, including for injuries that are permanent, you are entitled to wage replacement. This is usually 60% of your average weekly wage if you are unable to work at all. If you are able to work either reduced hours or in a light duty capacity, you are entitled to 60% of the difference in your pay.
• Medical Bills: The insurance company is required to pay for any medical bills that are reasonable and necessary. This includes various types of surgeries that your doctor recommends.
• Scarring and Permanent Limitations: If you have permanent scarring or permanent limitations, you are entitled to money as compensation.
• Vocational Rehabilitation: If your injuries require you to change careers, the insurance company must pay for job training to set you up in a new career that has similar earning potential, or as close to that as possible.

At Marcotte Law Firm, our Lowell Workers Compensation attorneys have decades of experience representing injured workers. We understand the complexities of hand and wrist injuries and the debilitating effects they can have on a worker. When the insurance company and its lawyer deny your case or claim that you’re not injured, you need an attorney on your side to fight back. Our lawyers know what it takes to get you the benefits you deserve.

If you’ve been injured on the job, it’s important to call a lawyer right away. While the insurance company might be paying your benefits now, that can all change in the blink of an eye. The insurance company’s lawyer is searching high and low to find a reason to terminate your benefits. You want to make sure you have an attorney in place should you need one, and you inevitably will.

Call the experienced Workers Compensation Lawyers at Marcotte Law Firm for a free consultation.