Plaintiff Attorney's Issues and Perspective: The Injured Worker as Claimant

Injured workers deal with many struggles while healing, forced on them by problems within the workers' compensation system itself. The physician's role is critical in mitigating complicating factors that have a negative impact on recovery. The workers' compensation system is meant as a safety net, guaranteeing prompt medical care; therefore, the applicable causation standard is lower than scientific probability. Physicians treating injured workers must remember legal, ethical, and moral obligations to patients. Injured workers should not be treated differently from patients who suffered a similar injury at home. Nonmedical factors must be analyzed in deciding whether a person is legally disabled.