Boise Hand and Wrist Injury Attorney

There are two ways you can hurt your hands and wrists. First, you use them too much doing the same things repeatedly. These types of injuries can often be surgically repaired, and you can return to work. Second, your hand or wrist injury can result from an accident where your hand or wrist is crushed, broken or somehow injured in a specific accident. In both scenarios, you can be left with a hand or wrist that no longer works. If your hand or wrist do not work, you can lose your job. If your hand or wrist do not work, it is going to be hard to find another job. Hand and wrist injury claims result in some of the biggest Boise workers compensation claims.

These claims can be very tricky because you must hire a team of experts to support your claim. These people are expensive, but they are worth it. Almost every hand injury case requires you to hire specialized doctors to testify in your case. These doctors are required by the Idaho Industrial Commission because the Idaho Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that “a claimant must provide medical testimony that supports a claim for compensation to a reasonable degree of medical probability”. Langley v. State, Industrial Special Indemnity Fund, 126 Idaho 781, 785, 890 P.2d 732, 736 (1995).

You will need an orthopedic hand surgeon to testify. Most people with bad hand injuries cannot lift over 10 pounds. This type of restriction will only allow you to do sedentary work or office type work. Office work will require you to use your hands frequently to finger and handle papers and files and type on the computer. Most of the time, your hand surgeon will give you a restriction of only occasional fingering and handling if your hands are hurt badly. This restriction will effectively eliminate most if not all jobs.

You will need a vocational expert to testify that these restrictions from the medical experts when applied to the labor market in Boise, Idaho, leave you with no labor market, because all entry level sedentary jobs require frequent fingering and handling. If the Commission believes these expert witnesses, the Commission will likely find your hand injury has left you totally and permanently disabled. You cannot proceed with a hand injury claim if you do not have reports from these experts and their willingness to testify at your hearing.

Most people do not have the funds to pay for these experts. If we accept your Boise hand injury claim, our law firm has the money to pay these expert witnesses up front. When we win your claim, you can pay us back. This is the deep end of Idaho workers’ compensation law. Make sure you choose your attorney wisely.

Repetitive hand and wrist injuries may result in numbness or tingling in your hand and down into your fingers. You may also have pain in your hand and fingers. Get referred to a specially trained orthopedic hand surgeon as soon as possible. If you are having trouble finding one in the Boise area, call us. We will help you find the right kind of doctor for your hand injury claim. In your first visit, the surgeon will order x-rays to be taken, MRI scans or CT scans. Most hand injuries caused by repetitive motion require surgeries to fix them. Most injured workers can return to their former employment after they have the surgery completed and a few weeks of recovery and physical therapy. However, sometimes these injuries cannot be surgically repaired, and you are left with a seriously disabled hand or hands.

In the second case where you break your hand or wrist or your hand is crushed or injured in an accident, you will be immediately sent to the hand surgeon, probably by the emergency room doctor. The hand surgeon may even be brought into the hospital to repair your hand. Once again, the surgeon will order diagnostic testing in the form of X-rays, MRI scans or CT scans to determine the extent of the damage in your hand. The doctor will offer surgical procedures to be performed on your hand. Then you will complete your recover from your hand injury by working with a physical or occupational therapist who is specifically trained to rehabilitate hand injuries. During your period of recovery, you will receive Total Temporary Disability benefits which are calculated at 67% of your average weekly wage up to a maximum of 90% of the average state weekly wage.

When you come to Maximum medical improvement where you are as good as you are going to get, make sure your Boise hand surgeon calculates your impairment rating using the Sixth Edition of the AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. To assist your surgeon in setting your restrictions, talk to them about sending you for a functional capacity evaluation or FCE to be completed by a physical or occupational therapist who is specifically trained to complete this type of testing. In Idaho, there are only two occupational therapists who can do these hand and wrist FCE’s. We will help direct you to the occupational therapist that does this type of very specialized testing.

We have successfully represented hundreds of Idaho workers who have injured their hands. You need an experienced Idaho worker’s compensation attorney to find and bring together a winning team of expert medical and vocational witnesses to testify on your behalf. Put us to work on your case today. Call us at 208-395-0011. we will answer your questions for free. No obligation. You won’t see a bill unless we win, because we only get paid when you win.