As a nursing assistant, you do a lot of very demanding work for patients. This includes tasks like lifting them in and out of bed and helping them in the bathroom.
Getting injured on the job is the last thing you want. But physically caring directly for patients – especially the task of lifting them – is dangerous work.
Indeed, if you are reading this, you may have already experienced an injury firsthand and be in need of workers’ compensation.
In this post, we will address three common questions.
No. Certified nursing assistants (CNAs) are also called nurses aids or nurse’s assistants. And your employer may call your position by various names.
The main thing is that if you suffered a work-related injury, you can seek workers’ compensation benefits. Workers’ comp is there to help not only with lost wages, but also medical expenses.
Again, the main thing is whether your injury is work-related. Claiming that your lifting technique was poor does not make your injury any less work-related.
Moreover, recent research has shown that no matter how a patient handler’s lifting technique is, the risk of back injuries from moving patients is great.
The research suggests that there is simply no safe way to lift patients manually, given the pressure this puts on the spine.
It’s true that there have been recent reports of fraud in California’s workers’ compensation system. The reports involve alleged schemes to funnel injured workers to doctors who will bill the work comp system for unnecessary treatment or medication.
These reports do not mean that you have give up your right to pursue the compensation allowed for under the system. But finding an attorney you can trust to help you assert your claim is obviously very important.
