Can I Get Georgia Workers’ Compensation Benefits if the Emergency Room Gave Me a Work Excuse?

Yes, if your trip to the emergency room was authorized by your employer and you are out-of-work for more than 7 days. Your employer’s workers’ compensation insurance company will pay you income benefits if you are out-of-work for more than 7 days and the out-of-work restrictions were provided by an authorized medical provider. If you went to the emergency room on your own without telling your employer, then the insurance company may dispute the emergency room’s status as an “authorized” provider. If you sustained a significant injury that required an ambulance to take you to the hospital directly from work, the subsequent emergency room treatment would likely be consider “authorized” treatment because it was provided as the result of an emergency. The number of consecutive days you miss from work will then impact whether the insurance company will pay you income benefits.

Each Georgia workers’ compensation case has factual differences which impact the payment of lost time benefits. Please contact the O’Connell Law Firm today if you have been to the emergency room as a result of your Georgia work accident and you have questions about your entitlement to workers’ compensation benefits.