If you’ve handled workers’ comp claims, you’re probably used to some common injuries: wrenched back, torn ligaments, pulled muscles, etc. But did you ever imagine having to deal with implants?
To keep your workers’ comp premium down, you know it’s sometimes necessary to question what’s going on with an employee who was injured on the job.
Can they come back to light duty? Was that injury really caused by the accident? Was there really an accident?
Here’s a question you probably didn’t imagine: Should we pay to replace both of her breast implants?
Penny Richardson was in an on-the-job car accident. A plastic surgeon said her right breast implant had ruptured and the left one showed signs of rippling, so he replaced both.
The North Carolina Workers’ Comp Commission originally awarded Richardson compensation for both implants.
But her employer, Maxim Healthcare (no, we didn’t make that up) appealed. Reason: The surgeon later said the rippling in the left implant most likely happened because it was under-filled.
A state appeals court said, pay for the ruptured implant, but not the rippled one, according to wire service reports.
But one member of the three-judge panel wrote a dissenting opinion, which said, pay for both. Obviously citing aesthetics, the dissenting judge said Richardson needed both replaced to ensure the implants were “symmetrical and evenly matched.”
