We are pleased to repost, with permission, this blog entry by Charlie Goetsch from trainlawblog.com, announcing a favorable and precedent-setting decision by the Department of Labor’s Administrative Review Board (ARB). Congratulations to Charlie Goetsch for obtaining the outstanding result for his client, and for ending the era of railroad interference in the medical care of its workers.
By Charlie Goetsch:
In a decision that will send shock waves reverberating throughout the railroad industry, railroad medical departments now are prohibited from doing anything that directly or indirectly interferes with the treatment prescribed by an injured worker’s treating doctor for the entire period of medical treatment, not just immediately after an injury. Once again, thanks to the Federal Rail Safety Act, the balance of power is shifting from management to rail labor, and railroad medical departments will never be the same.
Here’s the context. When a chair at his Metro North Railroad work place collapsed as he sat down, my client Anthony Santiago suffered an injury to his low back. Metro North ordered him to go to its Medical Department, which confirmed he had an occupational back injury and advised him to see an orthopedic physician. For two months Metro North followed its policy of paying the medical bills for occupational injuries. However, when a MRI scan confirmed Santiago had a herniated disc and his doctor prescribed treatment for the disc, Metro North’s Medical Department immediately reclassified Santiago’s occupational back injury as “non-occupational” and refused to pay for the treatment. As a result, Santiago suffered a four month delay in his prescribed treatment and was forced to pay $16,520 in medical expenses out of his own pocket.Continue Reading FRSA ALERT! Railroads Lose Power To Interfere With Injured Workers’ Medical Treatment!