Need Help Deciding......New Member

Posted October 13, 2006 · October 13, 2006

Hello all, My name is Darlene. My husband Rob was injured at work 2

1/2 years ago and had a 5 level laminectomy that was not successful.

Now the docs want to do a 4 level fusion. My being a nurse and able

to understand most of the medical test results has helped us in

making the decision for Rob to have the surgery but the workmen's

comp insurance company is giving us fits. We went to a hearing where

the judge claims never to have heard of the procedure and denied the

claim. Now all the lawyers (including ours) are urging us to accept

a settlement from WC and let his surgery be paid for by medicare

which won't question it. I've already called the social security

medicare people and had this confirmed so that's not the problem.

The problem is we're not sure what a reasonable settlement would be.

I can figure how much Rob's loss of income would be and pain and

suffering isn't accountable in a workman's comp case. But I can't

seem to find any information on how much the surgery itself should

cost, which is the remaining factor in figuring how much a

settlement would be. Can anyone give me a ballpark figure? He has to

have 4 levels, posteriorly, with instrumentation. He will also

probably have to have a third surgery a year later to separate two

nerves which have grown together and I have no idea how much this

surgery would cost either. Our final figure is going to be based

somewhere around 70% of the cost of the surgeries, hospitalization,

doctors, rehab and all, plus a preset amount from the WC people for

a 100% disability rating. And since the lawyers are pressuring us to

say yes quickly, I have a feeling the surgical costs are a lot

higher than they are suggesting and they are NOT wanting me to

succeed in my research. Any help anyone can give me on this would be

appreciated. Even if insurance pays the bills most people get a

statement of costs and if it isn't too personal to share the figures

it would really help me a lot. Thanks in advance, Darlene

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