It can be hard for an employee to keep up with the ongoing of an injury claims process. It is mostly the case when your application involves causation and a pre-existing condition. With doctors, lawyers, and other employees all involved in your case, it is easy to see why most staffs get lost. To understand the compensation process for your unique situation better, it is critical for you to appreciate the role of the different players. Notably, you can start the process by gaining as much knowledge as possible on the doctor's role in expediting your claims. This article provides information regarding steps doctors should take to accelerate the claim process.

Understanding the Legal Question -- When an employee suffers an injury at the place of work and files for compensation, doctors must always clarify a few issues that will dictate the claim process. However, when there is a pre-existing condition involved, it becomes a problem for some doctors. Nonetheless, there should be no interpretation challenges because the legal question that compensation lawyers need to be answered is "What is the primary cause of the worker's need for treatment?" While a pre-existing condition might prevent an employee from discharging his regular duties at one point, it does not mean that an injury suffered at work cannot be compensated. Therefore, the sooner the doctor can determine the primary cause of an injury or disability, the faster the claims process can proceed.

Attribute Percentages -- While there are cases where a work-related injury might be the primary causative factor of a disability despite a pre-existing condition, there are situations where even the slightest of injuries will aggravate the pre-existing condition. Therefore, it is critical for doctors to assign percentages to each possible cause based on their professional opinion. For instance, if a worker had a case of a lower-back problem but did not exhibit symptoms during an accident, then the injury will get a higher percentage. However, if the employee had been complaining of lower back pain but continued working, then a doctor will assign a larger percentage to the pre-existing condition. 

Offering Explanations -- Typically, compensation lawyers will try to gather as much information as possible about your case. In doing so, the lawyers will usually provide doctors with a checklist of questions. However, in most cases, information is provided in a closed-ended manner. Nonetheless, doctors should provide as much information as possible to help your case.  Today, judges are against 'yes' or 'no' answers in worker's compensation cases, especially when there is a different opinion from a different doctor. Explanations give the judging authority a clear understanding on why the doctor arrived at their decision.

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