Somebody made a video about one of his articles that mentioned a few #Whistleblowers… #GoDarren! I remember when David wrote this story about all of us. I was so saddened when he lost his life days after writing that fierce article about the pharmaceutical industry and WorkComp. #JustWhistle!
Homeowners insurer scams are very similar in the PROFITS BEFORE LIVES playbooks.
State Farm and it’s Preferred Vendors destroyed my home and my health when my roof blew of February 2, 2019; now there’s a lawyer zealously attempting to intimidate and scare the fight of out me – by any means necessary – FOR FILING A LAWSUIT! !
Remember when David DePaolo wrote about WorkComp Corruption, and included me and a few others in a few articles?
Somebody made a video about one of his articles that mentioned a few #Whistleblowers… #GoDarren! I remember when David wrote this story about all of us. I was so saddened when he lost his life days after writing that fierce article about the pharmaceutical industry and WorkComp. #JustWhistle!
Homeowners insurer scams are very similar in the PROFITS BEFORE LIVES playbooks.
Remember when David and his pals attempted a full on national disparagement attack…
There should also be discussions with employees about HOW TO FIND A LEGIT #WORKCOMP LAWYER — BEFORE EVER NEEDED.
[Pick my #brain….:D I’ll tell you most all I’ve learned since 2012! I get to apply the strategies and tactics in in fights with companies like State Farm ®that have a shocking number of #RICO cases across the lands.]
“SHOULD YOU TELL YOUR EMPLOYEES ABOUT WORKERS’ COMP?” ASKS AND ANSWERS Michael Stack
There should also be discussions with employees about HOW TO FIND A LEGIT WORKCOMP LAWYER — BEFORE EVER NEEDED.
All of them are not alike, and in places like California, an #InjuredWorker often goes thru 4 or 5 ‘useless’ attorneys, then ends up fighting and settling without representation.
Let Employees know that hiring a GOOD ATTORNEY WITH INTEGRITY FIRST AND IMMEDIATELY IS CRITICAL. IT’S A RIGGED SYSTEM; GOOD LEGAL REPRESENTATION REQUIRED. Better doctors found in basic employee health insurance. Too many baddddddd doctors in WorkComp
#BrainInjury is particularly dangerous to navigate in the #WorkComp battlefield. There should also be discussions with employees about HOW TO FIND A LEGIT #WORKCOMP LAWYER — BEFORE EVER NEEDED. [Pick my #brain….:D I’ll tell you most all I’ve learned since 2012!
IF THE LAWYERS ARE IDIOTS, THE CASE WILL LOST AND DRAGGED ON FOR YEARS, AND EACH SUBSEQUENT ATTORNEY OFTEN GETS A “PIECE” OF ANY SETTLEMENT, NO MATTER HOW MUCH HARM THEY CAUSED.
STUPID LAWYERS AND STUPID LAWYER CROOKS COST EMPLOYEES, EMPLOYERS AND INSURANCE COMPANIES.
Wow, funny how that works, huh?
I still think that mandatory cap of not more than 2 years medical care would solve much of the corruption. If insufficient medical care is provided for return to work within 2 years, MANDATORY SETTLEMENT, FAVORING INJURED WORKER. That could incite some legit doctors to rejoin WorkComp too.
If Chip Merlin and Michael Stack haven’t met yet, I think an introduction could be good for the Country at Large. If I can be of any further help, y’all let me know! ;D
BTW, the HOW TO WIN IN COURT self-help legal course could help your respective clients tremendously… to understand legal-speak and legal-ease and how to handled difficult lawyers from the defense world and ill-trained lawyers from the plantiff/victim worlds… Take the Quiz…. it’s short, sweet and to the hollow point..
Ohhhhhhhhh, so too many lawyers just don’t know how to handle a bad faith litigation claim?
Ha! One attorney told me I didn’t know how to ask for help properly which is why I couldn’t find any Bad Faith legal help in California. Let me know when your Los Angeles office gets up to speed and maybe they can a look at the Complaint I’ve drafted that needs a legal touch and hands to move the Courts? They have my blog link. You, too, Chip Merlin – might still be hope for collaboration on my little State Farm ® fiasco.
I guess I’ll keep studying tinyurl.com/WinWithoutLawyers I had a BIG WIN in Small Claims Court yesterday — one of the Vendor-Perps sued me… CASE DISMISSED!
MyWorkCompCoach.com came about as an effort to change from a combative communcation mode in regards to what had been learned about the Workers Compensation system in the United States, Canada, Australia and the UK to a more amicable, visionary mode.
A medical professional suggested that I attempt to “Coach” other injured workers who had zero to little success in finding legal representation, securing medical care, dealing with WorkComp bureaucracies toward return to work and settlement and even fighting with Social Security administration, where costs are often shifted to by ‘the industry’ goon squads.
“Get out of work comp by any means necessary. It will kill you.”
This is what some professionals advise their friends who get hurt at work.
DePaolo even wrote an article on whether or not he should report a back injury as a workcomp claim, as he was both the owner/CEO and employee. He opined that staying outside of the system, using his regular health insurance, would most likely have faster and more positive outcome. Not long after that, he lost his life in a suspicious motorcycle accident.
David had wanted me to help the industry mouth-piece from Australia who opposes legislative change and accountability and promotes giving bags of surplus food to the poor injured workers denied benefits.
I thanked David for thinking of me, but assured him I had no interest in such a project, and that I was in favor of civil rights and human rights, not hand-outs. She was booed off the stage at a 2015 or 2016 CompLaude event; I can understand why. She attacked me, too and denies the Aussie problems, just like that nuclear mouth-piece from down under. Aussie’s share how the industry provokes ‘suicides’ of their injured workers to save money and increase profits. It happens in the US more often than any humans would like to believe, but it is one of the #Taboo topics.
That doctor who encouraged the creation of this blog suggested that very few people with serious injuries can get out of #WorkComp, and that perhaps I could share successful strategies that included a fierce social media strategy, a growing email list, and a blog and a video channel.
During that transition time from the content of ASK ABOUT WORKERS COMPENSATION GRAVY TRAINS, some industry hot shots decided to take some hard core pot shots at me, and some vile disparaging attacks – publicly – on their various blogs.
I, of course, fought back (and won! :D) but it was brutal and disheartening but good for blog views. [The doc laughed at some of the diatribes!]
Prior to that time, I had been one of the four first “Injured Workers” “honored” in the 2014 CompLaude Awards.
David DePaolo had been very kind to me during my combat time within Workers Compensation, and he was also aghast that his colleagues could not/would not help me.
First he told me nobody would help me because ‘there’s no money in it’ [uncontested brain injury – d’oh] then he told me that ‘nobody will help you because you are too angry.’
I acknowledged how awful it must be to have to recognize that one’s peers are heartless sob’s, who would rather see an Injured Worker dead than helped if there insufficient profit margin, or too much work. Here’s an excerpt from one of David’s articles.
Thoughts and impressions on workers’ compensation and life. Thursday, October 2, 2014
Work Comp and Baseball
And then of course there’s the injured worker.
More often than not, of course, the injured worker gets taken care of. Yes, there are way too many cases that are wrongfully denied, where treatment is inexcusably delayed, where benefits should be provided but aren’t – but most of the time, likely far more than 80% of the time, a claim moves relatively smoothly through the process.
There are, however, claims that are difficult from the very outset. Sometimes we hear about them but most of the time we don’t.
The ones that we do hear about get dismissed from our conscience too easily because the melodrama in their vocalization of what’s wrong gets drowned by our own jaded pessimism.
These cases, though, are real. There are real people behind these cases. People get hurt. People get toyed with. People don’t get what is needed, what is promised in the Grand Bargain, and set aside as disturbed and having unrealistic expectations.
Some contact me because of this blog, seeking answers, help and remedies.
I have met some – like Linda Ayers. I won’t get into Linda’s case here – that’s not the point.
Linda is vocal, like a few other injured workers. She has a blog, she is active in social media, she posts comments to this blog.
And she probably drives the defense crazy as she is prolifically passionate about making sure the system works for her and for other injured workers.
It’s easy to dismiss Linda’s activities as the rantings of an unstable person, but she is not an unstable person. She is a person who’s case spiraled out of control from the beginning, and we know that the early stages of a claim are the most critical.
NO!
When I told David I was going to ‘mediation’ with no lawyer, no files, no records, just an open heart and mind, he said I was crazy and could not do that. (He had also written kindly about me that I was ‘not crazy’ but ‘passionate about civil rights and rights of injured workers.)
David lost his life in a freak incident shortly after his last blog — and nobody will ever convince me it was an accident. David was not afraid to speak out about corruption. Nobody has filled his shoes, but they have destroyed his legacy.
I WISH I HAD DISCOVERED the Dr. Graves LEGAL SELF HELP COURSE BACK THEN….. AND I’M WORKING FURIOUSLY TO GET THROUGH IT NOW. #TakeTheQuiz! I failed with a miserable 15%.
I’ll take it again an report back once I get through the whole course. It includes an “affiliate program” and Dr. Graves suggests gifting the course to people who need it and can’t afford it, and who can’t afford a lawyer.
Check it out…. WIN WITHOUT LAWYERS — [Note, Disclaimer: If you buy it from my ‘affiliate link’ I’ll get a few bucks to pay for some one one one tutoring and other battle matters. I have not completed the course, but I’ve already learned a great deal. It’s very good!] It’s a simple course, but not easy. I truly wish I had found it decades ago. I can hardly wait to finish the first round….
Over the battlefield, there were fake injured workers, clearly Industry Trolls, who joined in the social media attacks and stalked me on social media and infiltrated my groups.
They wanted Injured Workers to stay in misery and find no way out.
They even suggested that my recommendations for MEDIATION WITH INTENTION TO SETTLE, WITH STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT & Medicare SetAside experts– across America — was a ploy to make money. Stupid idiots, allegedly in the ‘system’ more than 20 years, on the take, and on the dope. Real Opiate casualties and worse.
In my efforts to help ‘coach’ injured workers, I have tried to provide thought provoking blogs and resources. At one point, I offered to publish a book of their stories, rendered anonymous, and collected about 20 of them. Then one stupid injured worker, who allegedly ran for ‘insurance commissioner’ and her band of trolls threatened to sue me. Ha! Idiot didn’t know that it’s often more costly to publish a book than to profit by it. I offered to do it with Love and my money. After the abuse and threats, I better understood why NOBODY WANTS TO HELP INJURED WORKERS. It’s easier to dope them up and render them stupid as cash-cows.
I moved away from the efforts but still respond when Injured Workers from around the nation reach out. Most are looking for a magic wand, that does not exist.
I have accepted countless emails and lengthy phone calls, usually thanklessly and often with threats. One injured worker, after months of attempting to get her legit legal representation, was accepted by one of the few top brain injury lawyers in Los Angeles. Her kids threatened me and talked her out of using one of the best of the best lawyers California had to offer in such catastrophic cases. I don’t know that she survived; I blocked them all upon receipt of the threat.
One injured worker was compelled to attempt suicide repeatedly due, in part, to denied medical care and horrific defense attorneys (who even complained to a Judge about lil’ ol’ me) .
When I talked with the doctor who recommended I start the MY WORK COMP COACH blog, and I told him, “Damn, this is hard. I am not qualified to deal with suicidal, drugged people and even the kids called me and asked what to do since ‘Mom isn’t moving and we had to go to school.’ What can you do?”
I quietly said, “CALL THE POLICE AND TELL THEM WHAT’S GOING ON AND GIVE THEM PERMISSION TO KNOCK THE F—ING DOOR DOWN! DO IT RIGHT NOW.”
I will never forget his response. He said, “WHO DO THINK YOU ARE, SISTER TERESA!?” He muttered something I couldn’t hear about getting in a bingo group with old disabled folks. LONG TIME WORK COMP DOC…… connect those dots, huh?
The shock on my face at his abuse must have shocked him back about his DO NO HARM oath. The session was terminated and he sort of apologized. I went to my car, in tears, and called a friend and said, “MOFO! I think I was just abused by the f—-king shrink!” My friend said, “Indeed you were.”
Over the years I have encouraged Injured Workers to step outside of the hundreds of facebook little ghettos, pockets of victims of WorkComp, and I have encouraged them to create a blog and be active on social media, with an aim to GET OUT OF WORK COMP BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.
I knew of maybe 3 blogs by Injured Workers; The WorkComp propaganda machinery has only about 25 —SO 25 GOONS KEEP THE AMERICAN PUBLIC BAMBOOZLED with PROPAGANDA ABOUT THE HORRORS — EXTERMINATION LEVEL HORRORS – of America’s Workers Comp system. HIGHLY PROFITABLE.
They party like there’s no tomorrow, and to hell with injured dying workers.
Do you remember: DEMOLITION OF WORKERS COMPENSATION: From Insult to Injury [the 2015 investigative reporting, that even included a letter from Congress to then Department of Labor Secretary (now a hot shot in the national demon party).
At least the Canadians organize and speak out, for what it’s worth.
This year I learned that Home Owners Insurance PLAY BOOK is quite similar to WORKERS COMPENSATION Insurance playbook.
Change ‘dirty doctors’ to ‘dirty contractors’ and you know what happens next. In my 2019 fight, a $10,000 simple roof claim has escalated to over $85,000.
I just got an estimate for $9,500 to mitigate the unmitigated water damage from February.
How’s that going to work out?
Then, in efforts to stay involved in life, on life’s terms, I decided to try another time to hire a ‘publishing consultant or coach’… and some of you on LinkedIn and Twitter already know how that’s working out….
Long story short, BE CAREFUL WHO YOU HIRE FOR CONSULTING…. I JUST LOST $397 BY AN APPARENT REAL CON ARTIST, AND BECAUSE I CHECKED THE WRONG BOX ON PAY PAL, disputing that product was not as described (I should have ticked the box, PRODUCT NOT DELIVERED) I’m having a heck of time getting a refund – I paid for 2 separate ‘coaching’ calls, 3 download pdf’s, and a 10-hour package of 1/2 hour consulting calls.
She reminded me of why they are called “con artists”… Anyway, pay pal won’t give me back the money, nor will the vendor, nor will she deliver the 10 hours package, and she and her assistant smugly think they got away with it. *
If I didn’t know better, I would suspect she’s just a #ProNuker troll, #JustFollowing orders. She’s probably just a common con. She seemed so nice and knowledgeable. #Next!
Awwwww, folks should always do their homework if they’re going to screw someone out of money. The internet truly levels the battlefield, doesn’t it? My money is gone, she even falsely tried to convince LinkedIn connections that I endorsed her product — AND I WOULD NEVER KNOWINGLY ENDORSE A CROOK OR ANYBODY SUSPECTED OF BEING A CROOK. So, we’ll see how that plays out.
As Einstein or some smart guy once said, ‘Those who have the privilege to know have the DUTY TO ACT.”
Let it be known that I have never, will never, and DO NOT ENDORSE Deborah S. Nelson, or any of her various entities regarding #bookcoaching, nor do I believe a word of her ‘HELP ME, I’M DYING’ April 2019 GO FUND ME CAMPAIGN.
#BadJoke Be careful of #online scammers and other unscrupulous characters. She also apparently has the #MeToo complex…. I told her I got a brain injury at work long ago, and she said, “I got one too” — She’s an expat who apparently preys on people who want to publish books, and her tech know how is also super yesterday.
She caused a delay in time, focus and money that keeps you from reading two excellent pieces on Fukushima and GI Brains. Karma will tend to her. I’ll do what I can to get a landing page out there so you can sign up for early notice of when the books are done.
(If you saw what she did with a perfectly fine ebook cover, you would spit, too. The ‘replacement’ draft recommended mis-spelled INTERVIEW and FUKUSHIMA….. and looked like a child did the graphics, and left out 1/2 of the bio images, and had odd line breaks of an incomplete bio. )
DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY AND PLEASE, DO NOT BELIEVE FOR A MOMENT THAT I EVER ENDORSED DREAM TO PUBLISH PRODUCTS OR COACHING by Deborah S. Nelson. IN HER DREAMS WOULD I ENDORSE SUCH GARBAGE. She said she prefers ‘raving fans’ but today, she and her side-kick unleashed a RAVING CRITIC.
There are some GREAT CONSULTANTS AND ‘coaches’ out there… be discerning when find them, and expose to expunge when you find the fakers — just share your experience…. and that should suffice. We’ll make and share a list of some legit coaches and programs to check out. It’s not rocket science; it’s just particularly challenging for a concussion-ist, as it deals with timing, sequence, and structures.
ProPublica is committed to diversity and especially encourages members of underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities.
PRO PUBLICA IS HIRING AN ENGAGEMENT REPORTER ….
ProPublica is committed to diversity and especially encourages members of underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities.
Is all of that the kind of work you want to do? Here’s what we’re looking for:
A track record of organizing communities and audiences, especially in a journalistic context. YES
Journalism experience itself, especially involving stories that shed light on injustices or covering marginalized communities. YES, BLOGGING
Experience using the various tools of the social web, such as surveys or forms for sourcing, texting or messaging platforms. YES, MORE THAN YESTERDAY, LESS THAN TOMORROW with paper and pen and 3 x 5 cards as old fashioned compensatory strategies
PAGE 1 GOOGLE SEARCH: propublic is hiring engagement
1 day ago – Google it, Pro Publica Engagement Reporter, for more insights. Remember Remember the 5th of September…. #DodgeTheRads AllReactorsLeakAllTheTime.com
Aug 20, 2016 – “#ProPublica is Hiring an Engagement Reporter” “Assignment: Give us a few thoughts on how you would have gone about re-imagining and executing a project …
Experience with social and website metrics, since you will be in charge of analyzing what’s working, what’s not, and what we should differently next time. Yes, limited, but compensate with intuition. Use of FB ads is a mystery unto it’s own, and simple google searches give a good, broad, simple overview of what’s working and what isn’t.
Does this sound like a new job to you? That’s because it is. Part of what we’re looking for is somebody who is excited about helping us build it. YES, YES, I WOULD LOVE TO HELP YOUR TEAM BUILD IT. I CAN PROVIDE INSIGHTS THAT MAY BE SOMEWHAT UNUSUAL AND VERY EFFECTIVE.
Furthermore:
INSULT TO INJURY – THE DEMOLITION OF WORKERS COMPENSATION must go many layers deeper. There must be hundreds if not thousands of ‘stories’ that were submitted but not used. Like Convicts in Penitentiaries, a return to those same writers, may find the story exactly the same, or even worse.
Many people ‘in the streets’ shared they submitted their stories, more than once, without response. While Injured Workers are thrilled at the Awards and all the Hard Work that went into those reports, a thank you note to those who submitted stories would have gone a long way to establish trust and credibility in those still fighting for their lives in the system.
Please see my current blog about a Facebook Virtual Tour of the pain and suffering discussed behind those walls…. Injured Worker groups, pages, events and desperation.
“….give us a few thoughts on how you would have gone about re-imagining and executing a project we did last year about the demolition of worker’s comp protections around the country. How could we connect to the people actually impacted by the story, and how could they have contributed to the project? *..”
This entire application has several ideas that can be further developed to involve contributors in the project du jour. Let’s hope that 2017 will see INSULT TO INJURY- ENCORE, that may also include serious investigations into allegations of unclean hands between WorkComp and Social Security and State Disability agencies, in possible acts of RICO type malfeasance and worse.
Some Injured Workers have signed petitions, one circulating has nearly 6,000 signatures, all ignored by the “Top 22 Industry Bloggers” who twist and distort public opinion with a heavy dose of “extend and pretend.” Those avenues need further investigations, particularly since the death of David Paolo, the leading spoke person for the industry. They can be encouraged to be a part of solutions, or they continue to put profits before lives.
This ProPublica Engagement Reporter project absolutely sounds like a Project I could contribute mightily to. I have been doing very similar work for the past nearly 5 years, as part of self-rehabilitation, survival, and serving the common good.
Each time I have experienced CENSORSHIP I have chosen to learn new social media skills. A quick google search of a few my memes is illustrative of what can be done, even as a member of ‘marginalized communities’ in rural America.
“WE ARE THE MEDIA NOW”?? Google results are fascinating. This was a gut level response to Corporate Censorship of the Global Nuclear Disaster, Fukushima triple nuclear meltdowns of March 11, 2011.
As we, concerned citizens, watched the censors at work with scrubbing the internet (In 2012, Fukushima brought google results of more than 62,000,000. Today, not so much. It is primarily industry propaganda that floats to the top of a google search, with bizarre tales of fake remedies to ‘clean up’ the meltdowns, and hand wringing about expensive ice walls that failed, to Geiger countered monkeys in Japan and elsewhere, including the USA, chanting ‘There is No Immediate Danger” while the USA radiation levels escalate, deaths increase, and corporate media makes stuff up to explain away the ‘mysterious, baffling, befuddling, perplexing’ nonsense.
I can be most helpful to a ProPublica team with the next phase of INSULT TO INJURY: THE DEMOLITION OF WORKERS COMPENSATION. The 2015 reports caused quite a stir in the industry, and in early 2016, they began to rumble about retaliation, in the cloak of a National Discussion [to mitigate profit losses from the ProPublica/NPR telling of the OPEN SECRETS, that everybody knows.]
In May, I was personally attacked for several weeks by Industry spokes people, with vicious diatribes, that graciously included links to several of my blogs. My professional friends suggested that they had to kick somebody after the ProPublica/NPR reports, and what an easy mark would be one of the very very few Injured Workers who blogs, in rural America, with a brain injury.
Despicable? Yes, absolutely. Personal, not likely. The money trail never lies, does it. Hurtful? You betcha!
One of the parties spoke very highly of me in 2014, and had been very kind and gracious to me as he and his team studied my case, discussed it at panels, and even wrote several articles based on the unique manner in which I fought back, and the complications of the case. (Michael Grabell was actually encouraged by a few people to consider my story for INSULT TO INJURY, but alas, it must have been “too hot” or “too messy.”)
I was also encouraged to have a discussion with an Al Jazeera producer doing a story on Workers Compensation, but
The only thing I know of that changed is that without benefit of competent legal counsel, the parties to my very public case reached resolution, subject to a confidentiality agreement. Or maybe he was just ‘following orders.’
The defense counsel even sent, at the end, what seemed to be a warm and sincere best wishes communication. My friends laughed, but I chose to believe it was real.
As to the Viet Nam era Veterans and Agent Orange, as I am sure the ProPublica Reporters know, are for the most part, SERIOUS PATRIOTS, tossed aside by our government officials, for more profits before lives. No Veteran would leave a buddy on the battle field and I suspect that as you open those investigations, you will find another Pandora’s Box.
[Left out about Fukushima US Sailors dying of radiation poisoning from the USS Ronald Reagan of March 2011; a huge national alarm!]
PLEASE BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT IF YOU TAKE AND TELL THEIR STORIES, YOU DON’T KICK THEM TO THE CURB AFTER AWARDS ARE WON. PLEASE BE ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT YOU ADDRESS THE CURRENT WAR CASUALTIES, AND THE DEPELETED URANIUM THAT IS KILLILNG THEM, ALONG WITH THE HEAD INJURIES.
During the Viet Nam War, I kept friends and loved one in cookies and letters from home. None returned whole, and some did not return at all. Many veterans are further abused in the Workers Compensation and Social Security Systems. America treats her military personnel like ‘throw aways’…. Expose that, and you’ll get awards from the people! See these articles, and perhaps make it required reading and listening for any people on the new project:
While relocation to New York City is impractical for me, as is a 40-hour work week, I would love to explore the possibilities of a consulting position, in a virtual capacity. A quick google search shows that I am a serious Warrior. LinkedIn and the ability to reach influencers was a significant part of my Survival Strategy and success in the Workers Compensation issues, and may be called into play again as the Social Security improprieties Head of the Hydra is on the horizon.
While in the Workers’ Compensation system, no doctor would would release me to return to work, and I told my current doctor that I would be applying for this position. His eyes got very big and he suggested pursuing it in a virtual capacity, and perhaps as a consultant to be a part of the team. I told the doctor that the job description sounds like it was addressed right to me, so it would be a mistake to not make contact.
Social Security apparently allows me a 9 month trial-return-to-work without interruption to my benefits and I would be open to a 9 month trial-return-to-work consulting position around the WorkComp Encore project, with a willingness to provide transferrable strategies to the community doing the Veteran project. The pending outcome of some very challenging misrepresentations and mistakes by the SSA could be another project unto it’s own for ProPublica and NPR.
The 10 Congressional Representatives who signed the October 2015 letter to the Department of Labor have also been apprised of the “Magic Math” of SSA, and the extreme hardships and litigation it has subjected me to. This is a pattern and practice that Injured Workers warn one another to expect. It costs injured workers AND TAXPAYERS. If there are an estimated 45 million people on Social Security Disability, and 8.9 million are injured workers, what happens to those in that gap??
Other avenues for the WorkComp encore include interviewing doctors and lawyers who have left the industry because of the hyper corruption, and those who stay and try to honor their oath to DO NO HARM.
The movement by Dr. Pamel Wible, IdealMedicalCare.org, is worth a serious look. She addresses why doctors kill themselves, and her TedMed talk could be required viewing for the WorkComp and Veteran project teams. While doctors on the dole don’t tend to kill themselves, the message applies also to WorkComp.
I like to make every effort count, since every effort takes so much from me. I will include this entire application in a blog at MyWorkCompCoach.com in hopes of inciting further discussions, and perhaps support for The Demolition of Workers Compensation – ENCORE and the Poisoned Veterans investigations for the Viet Nam era Veterans, and the current War veterans, and their many health challenges.
“Please upload a single file that includes: Why your experience gives you the skills and insight to be our engagement reporter; examples of your work that fits with what you’re talking about (please include a description about your role and the thoughts behind each project); finally, give us a few thoughts on how you would have gone about re-imagining and executing a project we did last year about the demolition of worker’s comp protections around the country. How could we connect to the people actually impacted by the story, and how could they have contributed to the project? Please upload a single file that includes: Why your experience gives you the skills and insight to be our engagement reporter; examples of your work that fits with what you’re talking about (please include a description about your role and the thoughts behind each project); finally, give us a few thoughts on how you would have gone about re-imagining and executing a project we did last year about the demolition of worker’s comp protections around the country. How could we connect to the people actually impacted by the story, and how could they have contributed to the project? *”
Thank you for the opportunity to update my resume in order to apply for the position, and to provide some insights ‘from the streets.’
The Work ProPublica is doing is important…. WorkComp was the tip of the iceberg….let’s go deeper there…. Root out the causes and thereby FREE THE HOSTAGES.
Veterans have told me that Injured Workers caught in the system would be well advised to conduct themselves as military personnel are trained to when they are taken hostage by enemy forces.
Sincerely,
Linda Ayres
ProPublica is Hiring an Engagement Reporter
ProPublica, Aug. 18, 2016, 6:11 p.m.
We are hiring an engagement reporter to work on investigative projects in collaboration with traditional reporters throughout the full life-cycle of projects. That means you’ll be involved from the very beginning of story conception to think about what communities and audiences we need to reach and how we reach them, all the way through to story publication and beyond. You’ll help find and reach an audience for the story, and most importantly you’ll be responsible for conceiving and executing a plan to pull our readers into the reporting of the story itself.
This is not just about social media. We assume you know how to do a Twitter collection and why social video is important. What we’re looking for is somebody who will find and reach the people actually impacted by a story, get them to inform our work and be a central player in the storytelling on all platforms to maximize the resonance of the project.
The work can be as a low-fi as flier, or as buzzy as a Facebook video, whatever is best for the story and project.
So what exactly are we talking about? Take a look at a project we’ve been doing about Vietnam vets exposed to Agent Orange. Unlike traditional investigations, we didn’t start with a story. We announced that we were doing an investigation with a callout to the community. We asked vets to tell us their stories, and we’ve now heard from more than 5,800 of them. This community has fueled our reporting, and it’s already getting results.
We also plan to do more projects where we work openly with and help foster communities of journalists. An example of that: our Red Cross Reporting Network.
Is all of that the kind of work you want to do? Here’s what we’re looking for:
A track record of organizing communities and audiences, especially in a journalistic context.
Journalism experience itself, especially involving stories that shed light on injustices or covering marginalized communities.
Experience using the various tools of the social web, such as surveys or forms for sourcing, texting or messaging platforms.
Experience with social and website metrics, since you will be in charge of analyzing what’s working, what’s not, and what we should differently next time.
Does this sound like a new job to you? That’s because it is. Part of what we’re looking for is somebody who is excited about helping us build it.
To apply, fill out the form below.
Our deadline for applications is Sept. 5. The job is full-time, with competitive salary and benefits. It will be based in New York.
ProPublica is committed to diversity and especially encourages members of underrepresented communities to apply, including women, people of color, LGBTQ people, and people with disabilities.
Please upload a single file that includes: Why your experience gives you the skills and insight to be our engagement reporter; examples of your work that fits with what you’re talking about (please include a description about your role and the thoughts behind each project); finally, give us a few thoughts on how you would have gone about re-imagining and executing a project we did last year about the demolition of worker’s comp protections around the country. How could we connect to the people actually impacted by the story, and how could they have contributed to the project?Please upload a single file that includes: Why your experience gives you the skills and insight to be our engagement reporter; examples of your work that fits with what you’re talking about (please include a description about your role and the thoughts behind each project); finally, give us a few thoughts on how you would have gone about re-imagining and executing a project we did last year about the demolition of worker’s comp protections around the country. How could we connect to the people actually impacted by the story, and how could they have contributed to the project? *
Hey, #LaborDay is coming up! Remember Remember the 5th of September! If you don’t have a WorkComp story, count your blessings. WorkComp can strike without warning. Did you apply for the #ProPublica Engagement Reporter gig? GOOGLE IT! ;D
“Assignment: Give us a few thoughts on how you would have gone about re-imagining and executing a project we did last year about the demolition of worker’s comp protections around the country. Again, how could we have connected to the people actually impacted by the story, and how could they have contributed to the project?”
Can’t we all just work together? Chat with your local neutral party mediators and structured settlement teams, and see just how many CASES YOU CAN RESOLVE BY THE END OF THIS YEAR, WOULD YOU? Blog about saving lives in the process. Share with your colleagues how you did it! We all know all the stories of failures to protect Injured Workers.
Let’s write some new chapters! Watch the TedMed Talks from the DO NO HARM crowd at IdealMedicalCare.org for more insights.
WE ARE THE MEDIA NOW; just do it! Even if you are not selected, your voice will be heard!
Coming up real soon here…. VIRTUAL TOUR OF FACEBOOK INJURED WORKER GHETTOS AND KAMPS…. Compare the conditions of WorkCompsters vs impoverished and desperately needing medical care Injured Workers as reported here:
Follow this blog to be sure you don’t miss it! (It was derailed after onslaught of May diatribes from industry mouth-pieces, attacking individuals and groups of Injured Workers (in apparent retaliation to the ProPublica 2015 report…Injured & Disabled Workers are easier targets for abuse and disparagement than fisticuffs with a behemoth investigative reporting empire like #ProPublica and #NPR, huh?
Bullying at it’s very lowest by those who profit most by the endless pain and suffering of injured and disabled people
What’s YOUR #WorkComp Story? Use these questions as a guideline in your own blog, or feel free to submit and resubmit your story, and know it will be rendered ANONYMOUS https://myworkcompcoach.com/whats-your-workcomp-story/ Fresh, more inclusive, questions coming up soon!
We have not had a chance to pretty up these questions but we’re working on it, along with some other ‘rebranding’ efforts that were also stalled while fending off national personal disparaging attacks (that also graciously included several links to my blogs, thanks to David DePaolo, RiP)
The #Sedgwick Institute kicked me out of their little LinkedIn group for presenting the linked questions back in May and for asking for their professional input. Pffffft.
A couple of Injured Workers with reading challenges submitted their stories then had a fit because their names were not to be used, a decision by consensus of all parties who have already submitted their stories. ANONYMITY PREVAILS
ANONYMOUS PRECEDES UNANIMOUS.
Same group of injured workers threatened “legal action” for my attempts to get stories safely out & into the #Workers Compensation National Discussion arena. I’m not easily threatened, as anybody watching these blogs will attest, or anybody who knows me. Right is right and wrong is wrong.
Workers Compensation is a dangerous institution, harming not only injured and defenseless workers, but taxpayers, too. See Congressional letter of October 2015, signed by 10 representatives.
So, if you have a story, let’s get’s the ball rolling again. We’ll also be reaching out to “The Defense” side….and their team players and get their opinions on how to save lives of Injured Workers without costing the industry ALL THEIR PROFITS.
Obviously, the counsel for Injured Workers is baffled and perplexed and befuddled about how to actually protect their clients, and the Top 22+ Industry Bloggers aren’t much help in that department, either.
Most Injured Workers are AFRAID TO SPEAK OUT. Others are so befuddled by Learned Helplessness, they honestly seem to think IF ONLY they got a new doctor, a new lawyer, a new prescription, then everything would be dandy…even if they have been believing it for 5, 10, 15, 20, 30 years of torture, abuse, and denials of medical care, YES, IN AMERICA!
‘Those who have the privilege to know have the DUTY to act.” – Einstein
‘Freedom’s just another word for nuthin left to lose.’ Janis Joplin
Something is terribly wrong with Workers’ Compensation, isn’t it?
“Without a blog and a growing database, Injured Workers are Unarmed and Unprotected in the American War on Workers.”
Tell your friends and neighbors; your government already knows.
#DodgeTheRads, too! Not good for your health either.
PS WorkComp is NOT an employee benefit. Don’t let the ‘Empty Suits’ fool you any longer. It’s a mega billion dollar industry, and Injured Workers are simply fodder. Ain’t that a national shame.
TIME TO GET A STAND UP DESK, AND STAND UP AND BLOG….THE FIRST AMENDMENT INCLUDES DUTIES…
A recent inquiry arrived regarding potentials for guest blogs. I have always wanted to highlight the best, most brilliant minds in the industry, but sadly, most have been found to be pretty mediocre when it comes to thinking about resolutions for Injured Worker dilemmas and fights for life.
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I want to find a group of decent, legit, respectable attorneys, mediators and structured settlement peeps in every state that actually work on behalf of Injured Workers, and who understand and have had success in Meditation and Structured Settlement in catastrophic and not quite-catastrophic cases.
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We’ll create a referral network, based on goodwill for starters. Interested? If so, send a BRIEF email to WorkCompLinda@gmail.com to introduce yourself, your firm, YOUR BLOG, and your expertise in getting WorkComp cases to the negotiation tables and get the cases closed without further egregious harm to Injured Workers. If you have a questionnaire that you like filled out before you consider taking a botched up case, include that.
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If you have colleagues in Canada, UK and Australia, we are seeking similar resources.
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NO CHARGE AT THIS TIME, NO PROMISES, NO OBLIGATIONS…. JUST LOOKING FOR SOME DECENT PEOPLE TO HELP SOME DECENT INJURED WORKERS GETTING THE BIG-TIME RUN AROUND AND NO HELP IN SIGHT, AND MOST ARE UNABLE/ UNWILLING TO BLOG. STOCKHOLM SYNDROME OR LEARNED HELPLNESSNESS OR JUST PLAIN BURNED OUT, TOO SICK, TOO INJURED, INADEQUATE MEDICAL CARE AND KICKED TO THE CURB.
Results are the same.
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Here’s my response to the inquiry that came the other day from a law firm on the East Coast.
Thank you for your kind words about MyWorkCompCoach.com and potential guest blogging.
National industry spokesmen have actually spent time and effort in May on disparaging diatribes about my blogs and me personally, and some of my injured worker friends. Fascinating that they would choose to displace aggression about the ProPublica /NPR expose INSULT TO INJURY – The Demolition of Workers Compensation and direct it on a WorkComp Survivor in rural America– with a brain injury, a computer and a blog, isn’t it?
Please kindly take a look at my other blogs, Ask About Workers Comp Gravy Trains… reach to date over 35,000. It is not considered ‘politically correct’ by any stretch of the imagination, however, it may serve to help free some of the WORK COMP HOSTAGES in America, Canada, UK and Australia.
Before we discuss what you have in mind for a guest blog, please be sure you are fully aware of my other works on Workers Comp.
Your website is a wealth of information! Part of what needs to happen in America is to educate the unsuspecting public BEFORE A WORK INJURY TAKES PLACE. When a poor choice is made initially in retaining counsel, it can mean a death warrant for the injured worker. THIS MUST CHANGE.
In too many states, it seems that attorneys representing Injured Workers are merely serving the workers to the insurance carriers on a silver platter, tarnished as it may be.
We would welcome information on “Mediation and Structured Settlements” as a ways and means to resolution of ‘complicated’ cases that have been churning for years and years, and any other strategies you may offer to attorneys, insurance vendors and injured worker readers of My Work Comp Coach aimed at actions to achieve resolutions and freedom from WorkComp/restoration of civil rights and human rights to the injured and disabled communities.
So, I was thrilled to receive your email and after looking at my blogs, if you are still interested, please let’s reconnect and discuss your concept further.
Thank you for the good work on behalf of injured workers that you and your firm appear to be doing!
“The reason you draw the reactions from these folks is not because you are being vilified, or because they have a disdain for the injured worker with a voice or any other malicious reason.”
“It is very simple – you offer nothing positive relative to change.”
“Anyone can complain. Few do anything to effectuate change.”
“Drawing attention to the negative, which you have done for the past several years, does nothing to further the conversation, offers no solutions, provides no road map.”
REALLY????
…It simply is not enough to complain. Everyone has a complaint. A complaint without a solution is bulls**t. You may as well just dig a hole and hide because no one is going to pay attention.
Everyone knows that bad sh*t happens in work comp and that there are profiteers off of the injured. That’s no secret.
So what are YOU going to do about it? …. Anonymous Industry Mouthpiece
The contempt and disdain that masks the dangers to Injured Workers by the industry profiteers is undeniable and sounds pretty darn dangerous, doesn’t it?
Watch for future issues of MyWorkCompCoach.com for strategies on how to deal with such interactions. Remember remember Ghandi…
‘First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then…YOUR BLOG POSTS GO VIRAL!’ – or something like that, huh? xooxoxo
I want to find a way to propose solutions to help Injured Workers escape the WC System with their lives. The laws are unenforced and meaningless.
I have a collection of Injured Worker stories, most of whom prefer to be Anonymous. Watch for them. They include, but are not limited to, in progress tragedies apparently caused by Sedgwick and others. Most have poor-to-no legal representation, advocacy, medical care or benefits. Yes, in America! An AMERICAN DIRTY OPEN SECRET.
Too many lawyers just make stuff up to protect profits by any means necessary. The US Constitution is mocked by the WorkCompsters, and far worse, they get away with it. You don’t look. You don’t care. Till you’re stuck in the box car, heading for the death camps of WorkComp. Enough is enough.
It will require teams of mediators and structured settlement people. Would you find that of any interest? Start with a plan to release all POW’s who have been in the WorkComp System 4 or more years…..within 12 months, with the help and supervision of the National Guard.
It requires “arming ” Injured Workers with the ability to blog and share their stories, heinous as most of them are.
I am also in the process creating a course for Injured Workers to empower them with Work Comp Survival and Virtual Combat Skills! Watch for it!
I am wondering about the possibilities of a collaborative effort and ezine and possible Tele summit to unite voice of any good people in Workers Compensation with victims of WorkComp to lead legitimate national discussions “Of the People, By the People and For the People.”
I am one voice speaking on behalf of Injured Workers. There are a few of us.
Canadians and Australians seem more vocal about the same class atrocities. Perhaps they don’t fear their governments like so many American’s do? Has our Constitution become so meaningless that an entire industry can profit by destroying a segment of the Working Class? ‘When they come for you, there will be no one left to speak for you…’
Most injured workers are too terrified of the WorkCompsters and their legislated fraud and surveillance and threats, compounding denied medical care and benefits. Doesn’t that truth make you shake your head and want to shout, “NOT IN THIS COUNTRY!!!”
The Injured Worker stories are the same — minor differences are names, body parts, and case numbers. The outcomes are much the same too…with degrees of further maligned health, income and job losses, botched surgeries, risk/cost shifts to taxpayers via Social Security and prison systems, ETC.
Some experts insist that the best injured workers can hope for in America is social security disability and an early death. Really, some industry investigative reporting from the dark side, huh?
Others suggest that the best American’s can hope for is a program to provide ‘food for the poor injured workers’ rather than LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR MEDICAL CARE AND BENEFITS, indictments from criminal conduct of the WorkCompsters, and the protection by the National Guard for extreme CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN EVERY STATE IN THE UNION.
Congress didn’t offer assistance with food banks for poor tortured and abused Injured Workers. Here’s the October 2015 letter where the ten signers clearly offer assistance, that could indeed come in the deployment of the National Guard, since State agencies also fail injured workers, nationally.
“….and whether added authorities are needed to better ensure that the interests of injured workers and taxpayers are protected.”
We say, keep your bags of surplus food out of the legal functioning of WorkComp…ENFORCE THE LAWS THAT ARE IN PLACE TO PROTECT INJURED WORKERS, AND INDICT THE OFFENDERS THAT READILY COMMIT FRAUD WITH INTENT TO DENY MEDICAL CARE, AND WORSE.
If the laws are unenforceable, then there is no choice but to immediately demolish the workers compensation systems and commence trials for the crimes being committed against every Injured Worker in America, and taxpayers, and employers and legitimate service providers. You could be their next victim.
I am a work comp survivor, who was extremely unsuccessful in finding competent legal counsel. Nevertheless, in pro per, ‘the parties reached resolution, subject to confidentiality agreement.” #BloggersSurviveWorkComp
Doctor and Lawyer pals advised to “get out of the workers comp system by any means necessary; it will kill you.” Some later said that in their entire careers, they never saw anybody fight so hard to survive WorkComp.
One such ‘fan’ suggested that I create a ‘coaching program.’ From that simple encouragement, I began working on a new blog, MyWorkCompCoach.com and an eCourse, Surviving Work Comp and Virtual Combat Skills on Teachable.
Personal ‘rebranding’ post-WorkComp is difficult when hearing fresh horror stories, while being continuously assaulted by industry trolls and their ilk. It can, however, be accomplished, with a little help from our friends.
I have been a strong advocate for the CompLaude Awards 2014-2015 and I used my resources to also share in the social media communities about the recent 2016 best blogs contest.
A search of the website, AskAboutWorkersCompGravyTrains.comresults in pages of and pages of posts about the Comp Laude event. Ditto for the ‘Best Blogs’ event. Call it ‘drivel’ if they will. Sticks and Stones…..
We also shared news of the Sedgwick Institute Linked in group, for what it’s worth, after reading weeks before of the mega-funded SEDGWICK INSTITUTE, allegedly established to investigate the ‘issues’ of WorkComp. Search my blogs for further info. Google it.
I blog extensively, to the best of my abilities, as I recover from Worker’s Compensation and brain injury. My anti-nuclear efforts have suffered tremendously due to WorkComp battles, but it has helped to see the parallels between the ‘PROFITS BEFORE LIVES’ nuclear and insurance industries, and the ‘swaths’ of 21st Century Sonderkommando.
I live near Joshua Tree National Park in California, USA. I am much nicer than I may appear in my blogs, and while my ability to speak is still impaired and challenging, I can speak but written communications are much easier for me, post-injury. If you have a story to share, send it to me. We Are The Media Now.
Please let me know if you think there might be mutual benefit in a discussion. I have several projects on the table and it seems that the industry has amped up their propaganda blitz in a feeble effort to neutralize or mitigate the truths exposed in the 2015 Insult to Injury / Demolition of Worker’s Compensation series.
“Injured Workers without a blog are Unarmed and Unprotected In The WarOnWorkers! #WoW”
Here are the industry’s picks of the Best Blogs of 2016. Note the absence of Injured Worker Representation.
They all seem tasked with a propaganda launch to attempt to mitigate the truths exposed in 2015 by ProPublica and NPR efforts that just exposed the tip of the iceberg. They are apparently having a ‘secret’ national discussion in May…. we’ll see what comes of that, won’t we. So far, not so good in the open-ness and transparency arenas. Attacks on Injured Workers seem to be escalating, and tales of WC Nurses posing as employees at doctors offices have been reported to be threatening, intimidating and terrorizing injured workers at doctor’s appointments. SMH…. thinking, ‘NOT IN THIS COUNTRY!!’
InjuredWorkersUniting! SilentNoMore!
Share the link. We’ll create another directory with Injured Worker reviews of the accuracy of their content, in due course.
Follow them all, and search their sites to see which ones actually bother to report on WorkComp Fraud legitimately…. the carriers seem to have the most indictments, and employees weigh in at less than 1%. Follow that money trail.
“…legal representation can make a difference between a lifetime of impoverished living and return to normal lifestyle…..” DePaolo’s World – Thoughts and impressions on Workers’ compensation and Life: Can O’Worms
YEP. The legislated ability of non-performing attorneys to have liens on a case that hinders ability for competent replacement when initial attorney choices have been poorly made by ill-informed Injured Workers is a huge ethical problem.
That harms not only the injured workers, but taxpayers and the legal community.
The lack of knowledge of body parts, return to work strategies, obtaining medical care and competent providers, as well as lack of expertise in mediation and structured settlements is another gap in attorney performance that harms many.
It’s good for the defense side, though. They bank on it, don’t they? Isn’t that part of what keeps cases churning for years and years and years, with a little periodic hand-wringing by various ‘stakeholders’ about ain’t it awful for the poor injured, unemployed, disabled-by-comp workers? : (
When even the Information and Assistance Officers, (officers of the Court?) as in California, insist that WorkComp is an “adversarial system” that is yet another problem identified requiring complete transformation; barring transformation, complete and total demolition is required.
If there is no intention or will to provide “immediate, reasonable and appropriate medical care”…. why not just call it an extermination program, based on outcomes?
WorkComp Exterminations —– there’s little compensation for the Injured Workers, and too many PAY WITH THEIR LIVES after long, torturous ordeals. Most Injured Workers have the same story—-just different names and different body parts. Quite similar outcomes. Survey the real doctors. Ask the Super Lawyers.
When attorneys play a numbers game with the lives of injured workers, accept denials of medical care and benefits for years, in hopes the attorneys may ‘hit a jackpot’ on another case it seems to be not only ethical violations, but breach of fiduciary responsibilities of applicant attorneys, evidenced by the years and years (50 or 60 in CA?) of dismal outcomes for the injured workers and other taxpayers.
“It’s the proverbial can of worms and complete satisfaction is unattainable, at least in the current configuration of workers’ compensation.” – David DePaolo: Read the article here: Can O’Worms
My husband has finally gotten in front of a judge for a settlement hearing after almost 10 years. We often think our attorney is on the other side. We weren’t told we could have a witness other than me & when we asked if our friend of 40 years could testify he said “no, we don’t want it to sound rehearsed “.
Then he requested that I write a list of questions that he should ask me when I testify.
Any advice?
Comment on a Comment on The Original Post:
When you are represented, you are somewhat at the mercy of the party retained to represent you.
Ten years?!!! That’s not uncommon. If your attorney is asking you to do his/her job, that is very much a red flag. Same attorney for the entire 10 years? What outcome is this attorney preparing you for?
Best to have that conversation and understanding prior to getting in front of the judge, IMHO.
It might be worth a second opinion and A willingness to change counsel if you find a more responsive and proactive and prepared representative.
An alternative is to consider mediation and a structured settlement discussion PRIOR to the hearing. If your current Counsel’s negotiating skills are lacking, a mediator can possibly bridge that gap. Search LinkedIn for MEDIATORS and find ones with WorkComp expertise.
What State is the case in? How much time before the hearing?
Browse through all of David DePaolo’s blogs for an excellent overview of the national WorkComp systems. Search his blogs for articles on settlements.
Never give up. Help your husband protect himself and your family. The system does not protect and it sounds questionable that your current Counsel may be of much help. DO Your HOMEWORK. BE PREPARED for more of the same that you have already experienced in the past 10 years. Sorry.
Know that you are not alone and that many best wishes are coming your way from Injured Workers around the nation who know your pain! Let’s see who else weighs in with a kind word, hope, strategy or resources.
BLOG ABOUT IT! You can start a Blog with the question you posted and watch your network build! Settlement is not “the end” so continue to reach out for survival tips!
Take care of yourself and your family, and tell your story your friends and neighbors because “WE ARE THE MEDIA NOW”
Isn’t that part of what keeps cases churning for years and years and years, with a little periodic hand-wringing by various ‘stakeholders’ about ain’t it awful for the poor injured, unemployed, disabled-by-comp workers? : (
My WorkComp Coach 